


Queen

by Spoon888



Series: Last Of The Species [1]
Category: The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Age Difference, Chapter Specific Warnings, Crack Treated Seriously, Kidnapping, M/M, Mech Preg, Multi, Only Carrier Left AU, Oral Sex, Orgy, Split Spark Reproduction, Sticky, The Unending Suffering Of Ratchet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-05-15 09:30:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 39,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19292977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoon888/pseuds/Spoon888
Summary: The Cybertronian species was thought to have long ago lost the ability to split their sparks and carry young, leaving numbers to dwindle and slowly die out. But then a closely guarded secret gets out, and with it, comes a second chance.It's just too bad the fate of the entire species rests in the hands of Starscream.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The main pairing is Megatron/Starscream in an emotional sense, but Starscream/Everyone when it comes to the physical act. 
> 
> Starscream's human equivalent age is about 25 in this fic, but most mecha reach majority at around 20-21.

  
Starscream was a late bloomer, which was understandable because the most beautiful of art took the longest to finish. Greatness couldn't be rushed.

Besides, no one noticed. A little white lie on his recruitment form about his age and he was accepted into the Decepticon fold without question. His youthful speed, stamina, and eagerness to please quickly had him climbing the ranks; captain, commander, first lieutenant. It was ridiculous in a way, a seeker in juvenile bodywork, the righthand mech of the supreme commander.

While taking orders from a 'mechling' had been a point of contention amongst the other seekers and often led to insubordination, the grounders had no idea. None of them made the connection between his shorter stature, brighter paint, smaller wings, and that he was different to the other fliers. Least of all Megatron. And there was nothing to give him away.

Nothing. Until maturity began to blossom.

"Your wings are longer." Thundercracker's low voice rumbled next to his audial. Starscream flinched and veered away, finding his older trine-mate right at his back, staring at him with a considering frown.

Starscream glanced at his wing, seeing no difference. "What? No, it's always been like that."

"Warp?" Thundercracker called their trine-mate, tilting his head to gesture him over. "There something different about Starscream?"

Starscream folded his arms and huffed as Skywarp proceeded to squint at him. "Errr...?"

"His wings." Thundercracker directed his attention.

"Oh, yeah." Skywarp's optics brightened and he approached, reaching for a wing.

Starscream slapped him away. "Stop it!"

"Why?" A stupid smirk slipped over Skywarp face. "Sensitive? That'd be the protocols, won't it TC?"

Thundercracker nodded.

Starscream was _mortified_. His wings swept down as he tried to hide them behind his back. "I'm not- they're not _sensitive_ and I don't have any 'protocols'!"

"Don't hide them," Thundercracker clearly wasn't listening. He pushed on his back to try and straighten him up, bring his wings forward again. "There's nothing to be embarrassed-"

"I'm not embarrassed!" Starscream shrieked, shoulders hunched and awkward. "Stop touching me. Stop looking at me!"

"Definitely protocols." Skywarp muttered out of the corner of his mouth. Thundercracker nodded again.

Starscream made a noise of pure frustration and stomped out, electing to hide in his lab lest anyone _else_ feel the need to comment on his appearance and or attitude.

"Was _I_ ever that bad?" He heard Skywarp ask Thundercracker as he was leaving.

"No, you were worse." Thundercracker murmured. "All you did was cry."

That, at least, made Starscream feel marginally better.

 

* * *

 

Starscream felt awful. Beyond awful.

His wings were tender and heavy and ached. And so did his back. And his hips. And his chest.

He stared at the chemicals he hadn't touched since coming into the lab to hide. Thundercracker was right. His mature programming was coming online, previously dormant protocols were rearing their ugly heads, and his spark was changing frequency with maturity.

Goodbye youth. Hello aching joints, slower processor function, memory blips, and - _ugh_ \- sexual urges.

He weathered the aches and cramps a while longer before giving in, tossing aside dignity and comm'ing Thundercracker.

" _Why is my spark hurting_?"

There was silence on the other end for some time, " _It's probably your chest armour, or turbines. Changing spark frequency shouldn't hurt_."

Starscream looked at himself. The armour over his spark chamber was cool and, so far, unaffected by the changes he was suffering though. It was definitely his spark that hurt. He decided not to correct Thundercracker for fear the overbearing coddler came rushing down here and fretted all over him like he was some sort of infant. He was fully capable of taking care of himself. 

The lab was half library, where morons who couldn't organise anything shoved random texts in amongst all the scientific journals. Everything from poetry and novellas, to encyclopaedias and historical documents had been rammed into the shelves. He ran his digit along the titles until he found an old, out-of-date medical databook on mature upgrading.

He looked around the lab to ensure he truly was alone before opening it. The information was very out of date. It only mentioned spark pain in relation to split spark reproduction, which no one had been capable of since before the war. Soundwave had been one of the last, but an injury in the riots before the war now left him incapable of it. There hadn't been a new-spark created in nearly four million years.

Everything else in the databook was useless, so he flicked back to the chapter on sparks. Just for curiosities sake.

A spark's light emission shifted from white to a pale blue when it was mature, and would continue to darken with age. Some sparks could take on a purplish tinge in later life, and mechs capable of splitting their's were a pale pink. The old, _old_ databook still claimed one in twenty mechs were capable of splitting their spark.

Starscream snorted. Better change that statistic to a big fat zero.

He wondered if his spark was blue yet, and decided to take a peak.

His chest began to transform away and _pink_ light shone through the armour seams.

He dropped the databook and it cracked when it hit the floor. "No!" He panicked, dropping to his knees to salvage it, hand pressed over his open spark chamber. He needed that databook! What had it said about pink sparks?!?

The blasted thing wouldn't switch back on. With a cry of frustration he threw it against the wall. It smashed into pieces. Starscream covered his mouth with both hands, not knowing what to do.

His spark hurt more now that it was exposed to the open atmosphere. He took another peak. Still pink.

A million panicked, half-formed thoughts ran through his processor. It shouldn't still be possible. He didn't _want_ to make sparklings. He wasn't _ready_ for this level of responsibility. What if they decided to force him? Could he break himself out of his ability? If he was shot in the spark like Soundwave had been?

He shut his spark chamber.

Megatron (and he suspected Prime) had all but accepted the extinction of the species. No new-sparks meant the population would only decline from here, helped along swimmingly by the casualties of the war. If Megatron learned someone within his grasp was capable of making _more_ Cybertronians, _more_ future little warriors, he would want to use that person to swell his ranks whilst Autobot numbers continued to dwindle away. Wouldn't he?

It's what Starscream would do. If it was someone other than him who possessed the ability to win the war within their newly matured spark chamber. Because it would be for greater good. The survival of the species...

Anyone other than him.

Perhaps it would be for the best that he kept it to himself for the time being.

 

* * *

 

Some _jackaft_ told!

"I'm not a mechling!" Starscream howled in Scrapper's face. "You know I'm not, you've been taking my orders for _years_ -!"

"Yeah, I know." Scrapper sounded annoyed, "So imagine my shock when your trine come in here and say you've ' _finally_ ' gone into your last upgrade?"

Starscream was going to _kill_ them.

"I don't need you to check up on me. Everything has progressed as it should have." Starscream snarled. "This is a waste of your time _and_ mine."

"I agree," Scrapper folded his thick arms. "But when Soundwave's little brats go into their upgrades, Megatron has them checked over as well."

"That's because they're small and malformed."

"And that's worse than it taking you _this long_ to mature?" Scrapper wasn't swayed. "You should have had this upgrade over a millennia ago. And don't fragging lie to me, Screamer. Your trine have been spilling all your dirty little secrets. There's being a late bloomer, then there's missing seasons altogether-"

"How dare-"

"Something's not right and you know it." Scrapper pointed at the berth. "Megatron wants you fighting fit when he reams you out for lying about your age all these years."

"I didn't _lie_." Starscream grit his denta. "No one asked."

"Get on the fragging berth." Scrapper ordered.

Starscream thought about his pink spark and all that was going to happen if he revealed it. His emotions welled up, feeling stupidly vulnerable thanks to his protocols. "No."

Scrapper took a menacing step forwards. "Screamer."

Starscream lifted his arm and aimed his nullray at Scrapper's face. "You seem to forget that _I'm_ the superior officer here, Scrapper! Don't let age fool you."

Scrapper held up his hands in surrender, rolling his optics. "You know you're being ridiculous, don't you?"

"You'll tell Megatron everything was as it should have been." Starscream smirked, jabbing Scrapper in the chest with the end of his gun.

Satisfied the Constructicon would do as ordered (lest he come back and shoot him) Starscream powered down his weapon with a proud sniff and turned to leave. And walked straight into Megatron.

"He'll tell me what now?" Megatron rumbled from above, voice low and dangerous.

Starscream's wings flopped all the way down against his back, spark pulsing in fear, dread washing over him. He was trapped. This was happening.

There was only one thing left to do in this situation.

Cry.

 

* * *

 

Megatron wasn't particularly sympathetic. Starscream hadn't really expected him to be, but still.

"Ignore him," he heard his leader order Scrapper. "These are his protocols, are they not?"

"Most likely," he heard Scrapper confirm. He sounded marginally more sympathetic, and Starscream soon found a cloth being pushed into the palm of his hand. He hastily wiped at the coolant streaking down his face, but more kept coming.

 _Fragging protocols_!

"I don't know what _you're_ crying about." Megatron thundered, and it was obvious the warlord had decided to stay for the duration of the examination lest there be anymore surprises Starscream might try to hide. Which there were. Obviously. " _I_ was the one you lied to. All these years I had a mechling as my righthand. No wonder you were always so temperamental, immature-"

"I am not immature!" Starscream tore the cloth away from his face to snarl. "You had no problem with my performance as your Second until you found out!"

"I have _always_ had a problem with your performance!" Megatron bellowed back. "And it all makes perfect sense now!"

Starscream looked away, deciding to ignore him.

"Temperatures normal." Scrapper said into the silence, taking his readings. "Your emotional protocols _are_ a little jumbled up but they'll sort themselves soon. Your spark-"

Starscream clapped his hands over his chest. "Why do you need to look at that?"

"It's a standard check."

"No."

"Starscream!" Megatron barked, but not even his most fearsome snarl could sway him. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around himself, trying to kick Scrapper when he came closer.

Megatron caught his ankles and held down his legs. Starscream could have fought them, really fought. Could have clawed Megatron's face and ripped off Scrapper's fingers, but they'd only call for backup. And then he'd be surrounded. Dozens of gathered mechs with a great view of what Scrapper would find when he opened him up and bore his spark to all.

With a defeated noise he let his arms drop away. Scrapper thanked him sarcastically for his compliance and manually opened the spark chamber. Pink light spilled out, and both mechs stumbled back in surprise.

And for Starscream, life might as well have been over.

 

* * *

 

Megatron and Scrapper had retreated out into the corridor to speak. Starscream sat on the berth and twisted his fingers together, wondering what they planned to do with him. He supposed he could always make a break for it, escape, defect, find refuge among the Autobots?

So he could carry _their_ sparklings instead?! He snorted at his own stupidity.

The door opened, and Megatron and Scrapper returned. He swallowed.

Scrapper filled a cube from a dispenser and passed it to him. He seemed to have trouble meeting his optics. Megatron had no such reservations, dark gazed fixed on him. Starscream felt his wings dip.

"How long have you known about this?" Megatron asked.

Starscream took a sip of his cube and shrugged. "Known about what?"

"You know what." Megatron snapped.

"Why?" Starscream demanded, "Want to know how long you've been missing out!"

"Do you have any idea what you've risked?!" Megatron was furious, seething even. It wasn't hard to imagine steam whistling out of his audials. "Going out into battle every other week, when one stray blaster bolt could end it all. Our future, gone!"

"It was already gone!"

"Evidently not." Megatron took a step back. Breathed. "You can split your spark, Starscream. The first in millennia to be able to do so. Possibly the last."

"I don't want it!" Starscream struggled against a tight throat and hitching vents to sound strong.

"Starscream-"

"What? Are you going to _make_ me?!"

Megatron's mouth shut with an audible clack. He looked aside. Starscream stared him down.

"...No one's going to make you do anything." He finally said.

Starscream, strangely, believed him. Though he was acutely aware that Megatron promising something didn't necessarily mean it was going to happen. He was just one mech, and not everyone was as likely to put his autonomy above the future of their species.

"This stays between us?"

Megatron nodded. "Agreed."

Scrapper reminded them of his presence by making an abortive choking noise. They lifted their heads and found him looking at them like a dear in headlights. "Scrapper?" Megatron prompted.

"Well I, I can't exactly keep secrets from my gestalt!" He defended.

Megatron's face darkened, and with a sickening sense of impending dread, Starscream dropped his head into his hands.

 

* * *

 

 

Megatron had had to call a meeting. Mandatory. Everyone to attend. Starscream didn't think he'd ever held one so big. Everyone was cramped into the war room, including himself. He hadn't been let out of Megatron's sight since they'd left the medbay and it seemed he had no intention of allowing him to do so anytime soon. He glanced at him every half minute, making sure he was still there.

Starscream felt like a ticking time bomb.

Scrapper had shared the exciting news with his gestalt, which had led to them sharing it amongst every other blasted Decepticon they had come across. News of such caliber travelled far faster than it could be contained. Minutes had passed and the entire Earth crew knew, and Starscream had heard Megatron expressing concern for the Autobots learning the information in a conversation with Shockwave. There'd been a suggestion he be sent back to Cybertron for safe keeping, but that would put him at risk of the ruthlessly competent Elita One.

And Megatron still didn't want to let him out of his sight.

"I can take care of myself. You know I can." He muttered to his leader.

Megatron flashed him a dismissive look. "I don't know anything about you anymore."

It stung more than Starscream would have expected it to. He slunk back, watching the room fill with curious, excited Decepticons. As the airforce entered he saw Thundercracker and Skywarp try to make it through the sardined crowd towards him, but they were stopped by Astrotrain before they could reach him.

Megatron's orders likely.

So far the only other mech his leader had allowed near him was Soundwave. Starscream wondered if it was because he assumed his Third had no desire to spark him, having already created a hoard of offspring of his own, or if the damage done to his spark had made him incapable of even siring a sparkling.

There was always the possibility that Megatron simply trusted Soundwave. And with him being the only other mech here that would have the slightest understanding of what he was going through, maybe Starscream should trust him too.

"You've all heard the news." Megatron began.

There was a chorus of confirming noises. A sea of hope filled optics flicked between their leader and Starscream. Starscream couldn't tell what they were thinking. A few mechs were leaning their heads together, murmuring, looking his way.

For once not wanting to be the centre of attention, Starscream stepped to the side, moving behind Megatron's bulk. He shifted, and Starscream knew he was watching him out of the corner of his optic.

"We have been blessed with a miracle." He continued, though he didn't sound like he was announcing happy news. The response was appropriately muted. "We have among us a mech capable of splitting his spark."

Again optics tracked to Starscream. He rolled his optics, wondering why Megatron bothered avoiding the use of his name when it was obvious everyone already knew who the 'mech' in question was. The gathered Decepticons were shifting in excitement. Motormaster was even rubbing his hands together.

He took another step behind Megatron, beyond caring now that he might look like a shy youngling hiding behind it's guardian.

"Henceforth," Megatron's rasp cut through the noise. "There will be a zero tolerance policy in effect in regards to any harassment, bribery, coercion, blackmail, or force being utilised against this mech in exchange for a chance to procreate. We are not Autobots. We will not force one our own into a role they did not choose simply because it suits our societal needs."

"But sparklings!" Hook protested, "No one else can-"

"We can't let it go to waste-!"

"So no one gets sparklings?!"

"Quiet!" Megatron barked into the increasingly agitated crowd. He surveyed them all slowly, menacingly, and heads and wings lowered in submission. "The choice lies with the carrier and the carrier alone. I won't have one of my soldiers turned into breeder. Anyone who has a problem can have that conversation with _me_. And I promise you, you will not enjoy it."

It cowed the ranks better than Starscream would have expected, and with a dismissive nod from Megatron, the Decepticons began to file out, only some of them kicking at the floor and casting resentful glances back. The hope in their expressions; gone.

Starscream felt uncomfortably accountable for dashing everyone's dreams, but they shouldn't have gotten their hopes up in the first place.

"You could have used my designation." He told Megatron when the large mech turned to him. "They already know it's me."

" _They_ do. The Autobots may not."

"What would they care? Autobots won't want to sully their coding with a dirty Con."

"What are their alternatives?" Megatron arched a brow. "And who is to say they'd want you for reproduction. Prime is destructive enough to take you simply so we can't have you. If they cannot increase their numbers, why should we get to?"

"But I'm not making anyone any little brats." Starscream protested, wondering how they could convey that to Autobots. "I'm no threat-"

"Not now." Megatron peered down at him. "In a hundred years? A thousand? When you've settled down and the idea starts to appeal?"

The idea of sticky fingered monsters crawling all over him? Appealing? Ha!

"Oh please." Starscream sneered, "I'm not _Soundwave_."

Soundwave's head titled. Starscream could tell he was somewhat insulted. He ignored him.

"It's too dangerous for you to be sent out on tomorrow's raid." Megatron struck another blow.

"Whu-" Starscream started, "So I'm suddenly not a capable warrior anymore?!"

"You're too much of a target, and too valuable to lose." Megatron growled. Starscream turned away in a huff, but Megatron's big hand took his jaw and forced his gaze back up, fingers digging into the soft derma of his cheeks. "Get this through your dense little processor, seeker. You are not galavanting off into battle to make an easy target of yourself. I cannot both watch you and lead a battle."

" _FFu-hu_!" Starscream tried to argue.

Megatron squeezed his cheeks tighter. "And _that_  had better have been a 'Yes, Lord Megatron.'" He glowered.

Starscream hoped his glare alone could convey how much it had _not_ been that.

Another tense moment of staring, and Megatron's hand drew away. Starscream flexed and rubbed his jaw.

"Stay safe." Megatron told him, then gestured for Soundwave to follow as he left.

 

* * *

 

Megatron had forbidden harassment and coercion and every other unpleasant manipulative device his fellow comrades might have used to try and get between his legs and into his spark chamber, but Decepticons were cleverer than even Starscream had anticipated. Underhanded methods taken off the table, they'd decided to go about it honestly.

They were trying to seduce him.

Astrotrain offered to carry his datapad for him because, and he was quoting him here, 'it looked heavy'. One. Single. Datapad. Looked heavy. Starscream let him, because it was nice having someone trail around after him, activating doors for him and pulling out his chair. Of course, then Blitzwing had joined in and the pair of them had gotten into a fight over who was going to fetch him a cube.

Starscream watched them punch each other in the head a few times until the amusement he had been getting out of the arrangement had run out. He left them rolling around on the floor, knocking into the lab desks.

Swindle then found him in the command centre, and opened his subspace like a flasher cornering a femme in a parking allotment to show him all the rare and wondrous things he had. How glossy he would look in this polish from Nissa, or how hard it had been to find the refined energon jelly he had been saving for a 'special someone'. Starscream decided it wasn't bribery, not really. Not if Swindle smiled and said it was a gift and gave it to him anyway.

He was starting to enjoy himself a little too much though, because in the middle of receiving a thruster massage from Ramjet, Megatron appeared like a spectre from the shadows.

Ramjet ran away, and Starscream wondered if the idiot had forgotten Megatron knew where he slept at night anyway.

"What are you doing?"

Starscream blinked up at Megatron, half dazed from his relaxing massage. "Basking in the adoration of my fans."

"They're not your fans. They want to fuck you."

"Don't say it like that." Starsceram sat up, cringing at the crass, human word. "They want a sparkling-"

"Which would involve fucking you." Megatron repeated. "Do you want them to? Because _they're_  starting to think you do."

"They can think all they like-"

"And what is going to happen when they grow impatient?" Megatron's optics burned. "I set rules to keep you safe, but there are limits to my protection, especially if you're going to go about flagrantly ignoring them. If you want to play your games, play your games. But don't come crying to me when they turn against you."

He began to walk away, and Starscream's frustrations bubbled over. "What about you? You don't want a sparkling? You'd be the only mech who doesn't?!"

Megatron cast him an exasperated look. "Of course I want a sparkling. We all do."

He left, and guilt reared it's ugly head again.

 

* * *

 

"I want to do it."

Skywarp jolted awake when someone jabbed him in the optics. "Gah! What the- oh, it's you."

Starscream made himself comfortable on the end of Skywarp's berth, sitting on his legs. "I've changed my mind. I want to do it."

Skywarp sat up, trying to wake up enough to get on track with whatever conversation they were having. "Uh?"

"Split my spark." Starscream hissed impatiently.

"You do?!" He gasped

Starscream hushed him before he could wake anyone else up. "Of course I do."

"I thought you were all squeamish about it still?"

"Protocols." Starscream explained with a dismissive wave. "I've given it some thought and realised, what better way to instil loyalty and obedience from hundreds of Decepticons than to be responsible for the creation of their offspring? And better yet, in a few thousand years, _be_ their creator."

Skywarp stared.

"Think how loyal Soundwave's little drones are to him." Starscream smirked. "And think how grateful the sires would be? I know Thundercracker wants a sparkling-"

Skywarp rolled back across the berth. "Thundercracker won't clang you though. He still thinks of you as a baby."

Starscream's face brightened, olfactory flaring. "Well slag him then. Not everyone around here is so picky."

"Just how many sparklings are you thinking of making?" Skywarp had a lot of questions about this. "And how are you going to decide who gets one first? And what if one of the prospective sires is someone you hate? Like Megatron? Or Ramjet? Or Motormaster? Or literally anyone you've ever met because you hate everyone, Starscream."

"I don't hate everyone."

"Name one person you don't mind. And don't say Skyfire."

Starscream didn't supply one. "I don't need to like these mechs to make a sparkling with them."

"You're just going to let any old random take a ride?"

"Stop trying to talk me out of this!" Starscream snapped, growing frustrated. "All anyone's done is tell me how important this ability is for everyone and how it shouldn't be wasted and you're here telling me not to do anything with it!"

"Yeah, dumbaft, because you upgraded like two days ago and now you think you're gonna be the creator of the future-"

"I _am_ going to be the creator of the future! I have to be. What's the alternative?"

"You keep it in behind your panel for a few hundred years until your emotional protocols stop messing up your processor?"

"I didn't come here for your opinion."

"Then why did you come here and wake me up in the middle of the night?!" Skywarp threw back, brow raised. "Don't you have some random Decepticons to be seducing?"

"You're a jerk!" Starscream clambered off the berth.

"So are you!" Skywarp shouted after him, uncaring of the other seekers he was waking. "And don't come back here expecting me to help you look after your fragging sparkling hoard!"

Starscream kicked the door on his way out.

 

* * *

 

To Starscream's surprise Skywarp wasn't the only party popper on base. Reporting his decision to Megatron was not met with the rejoicing he'd expected. Instead, he and Soundwave had shared a long disapproving look.

"This seems extreme." Megatron came back with.

Starscream couldn't win. He set his hands on his hips. "First you want me to repopulate the species, and now you don't? Make up your mind."

"Expecting you to lie with and then carry offspring for every single Decepticon residing here on Earth-"

"And Cybertron." Starscream interjected.

Megatron's optics brightened with shock, " _Starscream_ -"

"Don't use that tone with me." Starscream puffed himself up importantly. "I know what I'm doing."

"Suggestion." Soundwave's monotone breach the brewing argument.

"No one asked you." Starscream cut him off without so much as a glance his way. " _I'm_ the carrier around here now. Just because _you_ wasted your potential-"

"Starscream." Megatron snapped. "Watch your glossa."

Soundwave didn't speak again. Starscream had probably hit a nerve.

Megatron rubbed his head and sighed, looking to the ceiling like something up there could save him from the drama. "If you want to solicit the sexual attention of every mech on base, that is your prerogative-"

"Thank you."

"So long as you're doing it on your own volition." Megatron continued, slipping into full lecture mode. "Don't feel obliged to use your ability simply because it's expected of you."

Starscream rolled his optics.

Megatron continued, ignoring his sass. "Now before you go through with your ridiculous ideas, I want you to sit down with Soundwave and actually learn what you're going to be putting yourself through doing this."

Starscream felt a blush coming on. "I know how to do it!"

"I'm sure you do." Megatron wearily rubbed his face again. "I meant, the spark splitting specifically."

Starscream grumbled resentfully under his breath.

Megatron stood from the throne. "I'll take my leave."

"Where are you going?"

"I," Megatron declared, already at the doorway, "Don't care to know anymore than necessary about the complexities of creation."

"Coward." Starscream snorted.

Megatron didn't even turn back to defend himself.

Now alone with Soundwave, Starscream stuck his nose in the air. "I imagine you'll want to talk me out of this."

"Negative." Soundwave sat on the armrest of Megatron's throne. "You would make a good creator."

Starscream didn't like that he'd said that. Especially after what he'd just said to Soundwave about wasted potential.

"...Does It hurt?"

Soundwave nodded. "It is excruciating, but very much worth it."

"Does it just... happen?" He ambled over and perched himself on the throne's other arm. 

"You've interfaced before?"

No, he hadn't. He shrugged noncommittally, not wanting to say either way. A hand reached across and dropped to his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. Soundwave seemed to see through him anyway.

It was going to be one long embarrassing night.

 

* * *

 

Carriers before the war (the few that had still remained) had two methods available to them for forming protoforms to house the new-sparks they created. The first method was the natural one, building it out of raw materials in the gestation chamber. It was a lengthy, uncomfortable process, and took a great deal of toil on the carrier.

The second method was a great deal easier, often used for new-sparks the carrier did not intend to raise themselves. After splitting from the carrier spark, the new-spark was removed from the carrier and placed into an artificial containment chamber designed to replicate the same conditions as a spark chamber. It remained there until a frame was built for them by engineers and sculptors, usually to an adoptive parent's specifications. It was the method that had grown popular in later years, when new-spark and carrier numbers had begun their rapid decline.

So for there to be any point in doing this with the intention to help repopulate the species, Starscream would be using the second method. Which would mean he'd be relying a great deal on Scrapper and his gestalt to start designing and building the protoforms for these new-sparks. They were willing to help, because as thanks for their invaluable help, their new-sparks would be some of the first.

Which, as Megatron had previously feared, brought tensions to a head, Decepticons breaking out in fights and arguments over how they were going to decide who 'got first dibs'.

The first suggestion was a sort of lottery, picking names at random. It made Starscream's armour crawl with nervousness. What if the first name drawn was Vortex? Known for his sadistic streak. Or Wildrider? Who was, well, a _wild rider_. By virtue of being the carrier, he vetoed that suggestion.

It was then discussed that the only 'fair' way to go about this was to go by rank in descending order. High command, then officers, and so on and so forth.

It meant, naturally, that Megatron would have first dibs.

Starscream found himself not minding that idea too much. He gave it his full endorsement actually. An older mech was a more experienced one and Starscream's protocols told him that Megatron's rampaging protectiveness would make him a good sire.

"No." Megatron said the moment he opened his mouth.

Starscream's spark dropped into his fuel tank at the sharp rejection. "What?! You said you wanted a sparkling?!"

"Not like this."

"So I'm not good enough?"

"You're perfectly good enough." Megatron sighed, and it made Starscream's face warm. "But none of this feels right."

Starscream wanted to argue and snap at him, mostly because the next name down the list in rank was Shockwave, and Starscream didn't want to go straight into doing this with _him_. They had never gotten along particularly well, and with the state of most of Shockwave's frame Starscream didn't want to imagine what he was like under his panel.

And also... he'd been rather looking forward to...

"But I wanted to do this with you first." He blurted.

Megatron looked up, interested. "Do what?"

Starscream fidgeted, looking anywhere but at him. "I haven't exactly-! I'm-"

There was a scrape of a chair across the floor as Megatron stood. Starscream stared at the floor, face burning, until two large pedes appeared in front of him.

"This is precisely why I suggested you wait." Megatron began. A finger slipped under his chin and tilted his gaze up. Starscream hurriedly slapped him away, anxious and embarrassed.

"You want me to wait," he scoffed, still talking to Megatron's pedes. "How long? Until the Autobots decide to shoot me down like you said they will and I end up like Soundwave?! Yeah, great idea."

"Your protocols will recede with time," Megatron sounded exasperated, "Perhaps when you have a clearer head-"

Starscream snapped his gaze up. "So me wanting to frag you can only be the fault of messed up protocols?!"

Megatron's expression shifted from sympathetic concern to resigned annoyance. He took Starscream's shoulders and turned him towards the doors. Starscream dug his heels in and fought against him. "Wait, just hear me out-!"

"I've had enough of humouring you for one evening," Megatron said over the screech of Starscream's heels skidding on the floor. He ejected him out the door with a firm but measured push. Starscream stumbled, but by the time he had rightened himself the door had shut and sealed with a clack.

"Coward!" Starscream shouted at it.

Megatron wasn't prompted back out and into another argument though. Starscream stamped and shook his fists to work off some of his built up frustration. Primus dammit, was he really going to have to do this with Shockwave first?!

Apparently not, it seemed, because he was intercepted on his return to his quarters by an actually interested party.

Soundwave was stood flush to the bulkhead in the corridor. Starscream might have chosen to storm past and ignore him had it not been for the nervous flickering of an uncharacteristically unguarded EM field.

He stopped short, double taking.

"Starscream." Soundwave stepped forward, by all appearances calm and collected despite his inner anxieties. "I have a request."

 

* * *

 

Soundwave, despite his injury, had not lost his ability to sire a new-spark, and neither was he done reproducing. Not by a long shot.

Starscream wandered back to his rooms with him, and was relieved to find it void of nosy cassettes. He eyed Soundwave's chest compartment suspiciously. "We're alone?"

Soundwave caught onto his worry and nodded. "I had them sent elsewhere tonight."

Starscream nodded, some of his awkwardness receding. He surveyed Soundwave's quarters. He had always expected them to be neat, impeccably clean and regulation. For the most part it was tidy, save for what looked like a mountain of junk that had been hastily shoved under the berth, the legs of which appeared to have been chewed. And there were scorch marks on the flooring, and the bulkheads, and even the ceiling. All evidence of the chaos this poor mech must live in with those awful brats of his.

Why he would want another was beyond Starscream.

"So," he sat himself on the edge of the wobbly desk, legs crossed elegantly at the ankle as he made himself at home. "I know I agreed to perform these 'favours' in rank descending, but is it really fair of me to begin with you? Given how many sparklings you already have? When there are Decepticons elsewhere just as desperate for a new-spark but have none?"

"A valid point." Soundwave said diplomatically. "But also consider; I am the only Decepticon here who understands the complexities of splitting one's spark. I will be happy to guide you through the process in what could also be considered a practical training session."

A laugh burst free from Starscream. "Oh! So that's all this is? A little practice? I think I can manage just fine without someone holding my hand."

Soundwave came closer, movements sure and confident. Starscream shifted a little further back on the desk, surprised to find himself intimidated. "You can manage. But you should not have to."

There was a click, and to Starscream's shock, Soundwave's face-mask split down the centre and folded away into the sides of his helm. Starscream was struck by the mouth that had been hidden beneath, full lips and a handsome, sharp jawline.

He barely formed much more than a surprised, " _Oh_ ," before Soundwave leant in to kiss him. Starscream's optics fluttered shut in an instant, hands falling to Soundwave's chest. The kiss was smooth and measured, a hand on the small of Starscream's back encouraging him closer, guiding him just as Soundwave promised he would.

All too soon Soundwave drew out of the kiss and brushed their noses together, gently encouraging Starscream's thighs apart with a hand on his knee.

Starscream's pump pounded the fuel through his lines. He felt light headed and dizzy with mix of excitement and nerves, letting his thighs fall open so broad hips could fit between them. His gaze was stuck on Soundwave's unreadable visor when the hand on his back moved up and between his wings, fingers tracing sensitive seams. Starscream curled into it, pushing out his chest and bumping his groin against Soundwave's.

"There will need to be a physical connection between us first." Soundwave guided him, lips brushing his own. Starscream nodded hurriedly, swallowing the instinctive snap that he _knew that_. He shifted and let his modesty panel transform away. Soundwave didn't look away from his optics when his free hand wandered down, over the swell of his cockpit and moved between his thighs.

The palm of Soundwave's hand pushed against the front of his valve and thick fingers played with the rim, tracing the rings of mesh. Starscream twitched when one pressed into him, but the heel of Soundwave's hand on his node had made him wet and soft, and callipers easy parted to accept the intrusion. In and out it moved, until one became two and two became three and it almost hurt.

Fingers withdrew and Soundwave started kissing him again, pulling him along the desk till his aft balanced on the edge. He was tipped back at an angle and held there by Soundwave's hand between his wings. He felt something nudge at the entrance to his valve, then press forwards. He clenched down when some of it slipped inside, and Soundwave faltered in the kiss, breath hitching.

Starscream was about to mumble a clumsy apology, but with one easy push, Soundwave was in, spike gliding through his valve and filling him nicely. He gasped into the kiss, thighs twitching, and Soundwave began to grind, pulling out of the kiss so just their foreheads were touching.

"Your spark chamber." Soundwave reminded him, as cool and collected as ever.

Starscream fumbled over the command briefly. Confused and overwhelmed by all the new feelings and sensations. His sensor net was a muddled buzzing mess, but Soundwave settled a hand over his chest, reminding him were to focus. Starscream tore his mind away from the delightful plunge and drag of Soundwave moving in his valve and managed to find the command to open his spark chamber. Soundwave did the same, baring his spark.

Starscream struggled to find the focus needed to study it closely, but he'd always been curious. It was pink, like his, but wasn't as bright, and there was something like a black lightning-strike through it's centre where it had been damaged and corrupted beyond repair.

Energy crackled between their bared sparks, and everything else shrank and disappeared until nothing existed but the light in his chest and the soothing, desperate call of another. Starscream reached out to Soundwave, and was rewarded with a flare of heat. Pleasure unlike anything Starscream could have conceived of shoot through him, electric ecstasy drumming through every wire and line. But there was pain too; tearing, ripping, pulling on his spark, like a knife slicing through glass.

He jolted, optics whiting out when the two morphed into something else altogether. He might have screamed, but he couldn't tell.

But the next thing he knew, he was flat on the desk, gasping for breath and cheeks wet with tears. Soundwave was hunched over him, visor locked on his exposed spark. Starscream lifted his weary head, and spied the bright little speck they had made together resting beside his spark.

Primus. He had actually done it.

 


	2. Chapter 2

" _Please_ , hold your applause!" Starscream announced to the medbay at large as he swept inside, arms held wide over his head in victory. Soundwave followed close to his back, protectively shielding him. "It's nothing, really!"

It wasn't 'nothing' obviously, because after a quick clean up and refuelling (insisted on by Soundwave) he had specifically forgone taking the nap he so desperately wanted so he could come out and parade himself and his unparalleled achievement in front of everyone and be showered in praise for it.

Hook dropped his welder when he saw him, rushing over. "You _did_ it?"

"We-" Soundwave began.

"Yes, _I_ did it!" Starscream announced over him, hands clasped to his chest. "Easy. Split away without a hitch. I barely felt a thing."

He glanced at Soundwave, and the third in command thankfully refrained from contradicting that it _had_ hurt and he'd embarrassed himself with a few hiccups and wet sniffs, but that was only because the intensity of the experience had taken him by surprise. Apparently, it got easier.

"We'll be the judge of that." Hook was hopeful, but pragmatic.

He had Starscream sit on one of the examination tables and for the most part, ignored Soundwave's overbearing hovering. His combiner team gathered around to see, excited and hopeful when his chamber split apart and they saw the tiny white speck hiding amongst the glow of his own pink spark.

"It's healthy." Hook nodded, and Soundwave's shoulders noticeably slumped in relief. "Very strong."

Starscream arched a brow expectantly, waiting for praise...

Hook sighed, sounding pained. "...Yes alright, _well done_ , Starscream."

"Thank you!" Starscream flung his head back and stuck his nose in the air. "But it was nothing really!"

He paused, waiting for the rest of the room to tell him how wonderful and special he was. They did, half heartedly, monotonously, and with a fair few optic rolls.

Now it was time to move the new-spark to a safer, more controlled environment. The containment tank they'd built had been split into dozens of individual chambers, both to help identify who was who and prevent any sparks from bumping into one another and combining. A healthy mix of radiation and electricity like what would be found in Starscream's spark would feed and support them until they were strong enough to be shifted into a protoform.

Starscream sat back and watched Hook take what looked like a tiny net, made of stabilised static energy, and use it to scoop up the new-spark speck like it was a fish in a tank. He swiftly turned and tipped it into the containment chamber.

Starscream leant close to watch the new-spark settle into it's new environment, spinning like it had never been displaced in the first place.

"That's it?" He asked.

"That's it." Hook nodded. "I'm not sure how long you should wait before doing this again-"

"As long as he needs." Soundwave interrupted, crouched close to the containment tank to watch his new-spark swirl around. "Individual sparks are different. Starscream will know when he is ready to do it again."

Starscream felt like he could do it all again right how, but Scrapper was looking at him with vested interest and he would rather not be hounded by impatient wannabe sires, nor leave anyone with the impression that he was willing to pump out new-spark after new-spark all hours of the day like a living factory line. 

So he nodded, hopping down from the examination table. His legs still felt a little wobbling from Soundwave's attention, so that was as good a reason as any to wait before attempting this again.

And considering that it was cold, pragmatic _Shockwave_ who was next, he definitely needed a moment to gather his wits about him.

 

* * *

 

There was some residual ache the next day, not just a little twinge between his hips, but the tender numbness of his spark chamber as well. He felt more emotional too. At least, that was his excuse after Soundwave had sent him a memo forwarding praise from Megatron for the successful split. He couldn't remember the last time Megatron had expressed pride in him, not since his assassination of the high chancellor many, many years ago. And even then it had just been a firm nod.

He wondered if this meant Megatron would accept his offer after all, and felt a nervous fluttering all up in his tank at the thought. He had enjoyed himself with Soundwave last night, but _Megatron_? That would be the night of a lifetime.

He planned on seeking his leader out -now that he knew what he was doing he could make a more confident proposal- but he never had the chance. Prompted by the success of Soundwave's new-spark, Shockwave had decided to save Starscream the tiring space bridge jump to Cybertron, and had joined them on Earth.

Starscream knew this because he'd strutted around the corner of the corridor leading to the mess and banged his head on the edge of sub-commander's generous chest.

"Ow! Watch where you're-"

"Starscream." Shockwave stared down his nonexistent nose at him. "Congratulations are in order. I have seen the new-spark and am impressed with it's condition."

Starscream tried to peer around him, nodding, "Yes, well, as you can imagine, Shockwave, I'm a busy mech these days. I'll just-"

Shockwave sidestepped to block him. "Further study is required to ensure this method is viable. I will join you in your quarters tonight."

Starscream's optics flared at his presumption. "I'm _busy_." He blurted out, recoiling mostly at  the thought of inviting Shockwave into _his_ berth.

"I have checked your schedule. You are available." Shockwave didn't get the hint. "Unless you require a lengthier recovery time?"

"No." Starscream ground out.

"Good." Shockwave then removed something from his subspace, and Starscream was surprised when his one good hand pushed a foil wrapped treat into his palm.

Nostalgia overwhelmed him when just from the texture Starscream recognised a Vosian energon truffle, the likes of which hadn't been made in centuries. They had been a delicacy even then. His mouth started to water.

"I appreciate your assistance in this matter." Shockwave told him, taking a step back and moving to leave.

Starscream fiddled with the truffle, debating on whether to save it, or eat it now. He ended up eating it, tossing the entire thing into his mouth in one, and _Primus_ was it good. He clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from audibly moaning when it melted over his tongue.

So maybe Shockwave was a bit odd, but at least he knew how to show appreciation to a mech doing him a favour.

 

* * *

 

It wasn't just the truffles that Shockwave seemed determined to surprise him with.

When he came to Starscream's quarters that night, his large heavy frame smelt of fresh solvent and shone with a layer of polish Starscream wasn't used to seeing such a practical mech usually bother with. It was nice that he had taken the time to buff up, and all for him. Flattered, Starscream's usual fussiness didn't stick around for long.

There was no kissing like there had been with Soundwave, but Shockwave's touch was gentle and calculated. Shockwave nuzzled at his neck as he lay spread eagled beneath him, heels pressed into the berth padding and claws sunk into the sheets, gasping as Shockwave fragged him.

Shockwave treated it like a carefully planned experiment, thrusts perfectly paced and timed evenly. The optimum time to initiate the spark merge was six hundred and twenty eight seconds into interfacing, he had told Starscream, who was too close to an overload to listen.

Shockwave's hand was on his hip, so it was the tip of his blaster that trailed between Starscream's turbines to encourage his spark chamber open. Shockwave's own mammoth chest came apart as well, his spark huge and glowing like a star, so bright Starscream thought his would be lost in it.

Shockwave's huge spike plunged deep and Starscream arched his back, bringing their sparks together with a zap.

He overloaded during the merge, and would suspect, hours later, when his processor finally switched back on, that it had been Shockwave's intention with the timing. He writhed and clawed and Shockwave bore down on him, huge red optic filling Starscream's vision.

This time, he didn't offline during the split, and was throughly aware of his merged spark tearing a piece of itself apart, of the rush of heat turning his frame into a furnace, of Shockwave overloading into him, passing his frame the needed coding that would determine the new-spark's personality. The larger mech didn't make a sound, stiffening above him, optic spiralling closed as Starscream felt warmth spread through his internals.

Then vents released and Shockwave drew back, optic blinking back online.

"Fascinating." He commented, rising onto his knees between Starscream's thighs, peering at the tiny new-spark. Starscream just laid there, panting, too exhausted to even crawl out from under him.

He poked Shockwave's chest, and made a grabbing motion with his hand. "Truffles," he rasped. "More energon truffles."

He he come to realise Shockwave was a true gentlemech, so of course he dove into his subspace and complied.

 

* * *

 

Starscream's sheets still smelt of truffles, sex, and Shockwave when he recharged in them the next night. It was distracting to roll over and bury his noise in a pillow only to be taken back to that moment. He knew then, that from that point on he'd never again be able to smell the sweet aroma of his favourite truffles without associating it with the sensation of Shockwave's heavy frame bearing down on him.

Not necessarily a _bad_ thing... 

Perhaps for the sake of his own sanity it would be better to keep these dalliances out of his own room. He wasn't going to spend the rest of his reproductive life recharging in the damp spot.

When he rose the next morning he found no need to trek all the way down to the mess to collect his ration, as Blitzwing was stood outside his door and thrust a cube at him as soon as he stepped out. Starscream gingerly took it, rolling his optics. "Desperation isn't attractive." He advised, swooping past.

He came across several more mechs holding cubes, all of them looking disappointed to see someone else had gotten to him first. It was both flattering that they were so eager to please, and exhausting that his typical rudeness couldn't chase their overbearing attentions away as easily. Mechs were far more willing to bear his dismissive tuts and snorts if they thought they'd be within a chance of moving up the list. Since Soundwave, and now Shockwave's successful siring, they were getting twitchier.

And when he finally reached the command centre he discovered he had a whole new problem to worry about.

"What do you mean 'they know'?" He demanded, chasing Megatron around the monitors because the older mech just wouldn't stand still and _talk_ to him. "Who is 'they'?"

"Everyone."

"Who is every-!"

"The Autobots." Megatron whipped around and snapped. Starscream stopped short. "All of them. Here on Earth. On Cybertron. In the depths of space! Even the blasted humans know!"

"The humans?!" Starscream blanched. "Why would the Autobots tell the humans?!"

Megatron made a disgusted noise and looked aside. "Primus knows."

"What do we-"

" _You_ are not leaving the security perimeter." Megatron cut across him.

Starscream's mouth fell open.

"And none of your airforce is either." Megatron continued before he could start the inevitable screaming match. "In fact, you're grounded, the lot of you. Humans are stupid and have limited senses. It's unlikely they would know the difference between you and another seeker, or if they'd even care-"

"Wait," Starscream sneered. "Wait, you think they want to hurt me? _Humans_ are a threat now? Please, why would they even-?"

"Soundwave tells me they have been discussing you at great length." Megatron tone darkened. "And the apparent risk you pose to them as a species. It seems they were happy to offer sanctuary to their last-of-their-kind Autobot allies, but there's 'no room' for additional sparks."

Starscream blinked. So not all humans are as fond as the Autobots as it had appeared. Still, it could only work in their favour if Prime was facing a fight on both sides. It would finally even the playing field on this miserable little planet.

He wasn't worried, not for himself at least.

"If they want me dead, what'll they do with the new-sparks?" He asked, wringing his hands together to give them something to do. 

"The human's may have ships but their primitive technology cannot reach us down here, and Prime would never allow-"

"I'm not worried about what Prime would allow!" Starscream snapped, "Humans aren't much of a threat to us, even in their numbers. But what happens when my sparklings grow? When they start exploring beyond the base? They can't defend themselves here, and we don't have the energy to send them to Cybertron-!"

"They will be protected." Megatron said firmly.

"You can't promise that!"

Heavy hands fell to his shoulders and Megatron's intense gaze grounded him. "I am promising it." He said sternly. "And you're getting ahead of yourself. Xenophobia is rife among the humans, but the Autobots are still their allies. Prime can still control them. Regardless, he has requested an audience with me. I plan to gage the situation better then."

"You're seeing him?" Starscream's spark skipped a beat. "When?"

"It doesn't matter to you, you're not going."

"But this meeting is about me?! Isn't it? What else would it be about?!"

"Of course it's going to be about you." Megatron ground out. "But I am not going to dangle you in front of the Autobots just so they can _shoot you_ , or worse, take you for themselves. Your foolishness is astounding, Starscream."

"So I'm forbidden from having a say in any of this?!"

"A say in what?!" Megatron's optics flared, looming tall. "What do you imagine is going to be decided? That I'd trade you for a victory? Exchange your sparklings for fuel?"

"Maybe!" Starscream refused to shy away, standing tall and baring his teeth. "I never know with you."

That was the final straw it seemed.

"Do not think your ability makes you exempt from punishment." Megatron's growl was quiet and dangerous. "The next time you make such a despicable insinuation you'll find yourself in the brig with minimal rations, whether you're carrying a new-spark or not. Now get out before I change my mind."

Starscream glared, fighting against the bottom lip that wanted to wobble. "Just _let_ me-"

"No!" Megatron thundered, thrusting an arm in the direction of the door, "Out. Now."

"You're a miserable, bitter, _controlling_ old maniac." Starscream spat. "See if I ever make a sparkling for _you_!"

He punched the bulkhead on the other side of the door, but achieved little more than a small dent and scuffed knuckles for his trouble.

 

* * *

 

Megatron left with Soundwave to attend whatever secret meeting he had arranged with Prime. Ordinarily Starscream might have followed out of spite, performed a dramatic entrance, and ignored how purple in the face Megatron turned as he made sure all the Autobots knew _he_ would be calling the shots in this situation.

Unfortunately that fantasy was crushed by Shockwave, who was still on Earth and had a vested interest in keeping him safe. Or, possibly, Megatron had told him to make himself useful by keeping an optic on him.

"Your negative emotions will affect spark function." Shockwave told him, and gave him another energon truffle like he was trying to cheer up a moody toddler. "I would suggest partaking in an activity you enjoy to take your processor off your frustrations."

Which was how Starscream found himself in the Stunticons quarters ten minutes later, relaxed across Motormaster's berth with his arms folded behind his head, listening to the soft kissing, sucking noises of the mech's mouth on his valve, twitching into the intimate stimulation with happy little sighs. It was a much better way to spend his time than stewing over _Megatron_.

"You realise this isn't -uh- necessary?" Starscream reminded him, removing a hand from behind his head to rest it atop Motormaster's dark helm, encouraging the tongue lapping in waves over his node to move deeper.

Motormaster revved his powerful engines in response, and the berth vibrated, the walls vibrated, Starscream's _entire chassis_ vibrated. His optics unfocused and he squirmed into it, tanks clenching and wings shuddering. He was close to an overload when Motormaster drew back with a heavy, hot exhale and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

"Always thought you were pretty." He growled, focused on Starscream's flushed face as he bent to kiss his inner thigh appreciatively. "But like this? You're gorgeous."

Starscream preened, looking away to conceal his smile, "There's no need for flattery. I'm giving you want you want-"

"Wanted to frag you for eons, Commander," He rose onto his knees and smirked, fisting his spike and stroking it firmly and deliberately. Starscream parted his thighs a little, watching him. "Getting a sparkling outta it is just the icing on the oil cake."

Starscream found himself rather liking Motormaster's confidence, his roughness, even when he grabbed Starscream's hips and hauled him into position. There was as much power to this dangerous truck there was to Prime, and to Megatron even, and Starscream liked the ease with which he could move him, pin him. He was still angry at Megatron, and he needed something, someone to work it out of him.

Motormaster seemed like a good choice. He pressed firm quick kisses up Starscream's cockpit and over his chest, mouth latching over the tip of his left turbine and giving it a sharp nip. Starsceam jumped and Motormaster growled, dropping his hips a little to let his spike rub at Starscream's pelvic plating.

"You're dusty," Starscream muttered, noticing the layer of yellow dirt clinging to Motormaster's dark armour.

"From the road, little seeker," Motormaster rumbled, big hands taking him by the wing and the hip, broad spike bumping his valve. "Not that you'd know much about that."

He pressed in, and Starscream's gasp warbled into a cry when the pace started immediately. Shockwave and Soundwave had taken him slowly, been measured and calm, but Motormaster was driven by _lust_ , pounding into him in fast brutal pursuit of an overload. It was contagious. Starscream panted and whined and clawed at broad, dark shoulders, driven mad by the delectable backstroke of Motormaster's spike over his sensors and the jab of him shoving in deep.

Motormaster grabbed the back of his helm and yanked it back, exposing his throat cabling to bite at it, growling. Starscream overloaded, vocaliser stuttering out a cry.

"Knew you'd like it," Motormaster was muttering over the clang of his hips meeting Starscream's aft. "Knew you needed it rough."

He kissed Starscream with bruising force, tongue thrusting into his mouth and claiming him there too. Motormaster pressed close and Starscream could feel the rumble of his powerful engine under his armour. Snarling into the kiss, Motormaster overloaded, still pumping into him, waiting till the last vestiges of pleasure ebbed away before finally opening his chest plates.

Disoriented and panting, Starscream responded in likeness, wincing then crying when their sparks came together without the numbing pleasure of active interfacing. He gripped Motormaster's shoulders till he felt energon under his claws, optics shuttered tight against the sting.

Then it was done. Motormaster drew away and Starscream was left with an oddly satisfied sort ache. "Huh."

"Never been fragged like that before, eh?" Motormaster was smug and proud. Hands on Starscream's hips began to turn him. "Roll over, sweetspark, and I'll show you why they really call me King of the Road."

The deed was done, he could feel the tingle of a new-spark in his chest, but Starscream allowed the truck to roll him into his belly. He let his helm rest against the berth, optics half hooded, and moaned softly when the spike pressed back into him.

Well, he thought when Motormaster curled his hands around the edges of his wings and used them to haul him hilt deep back onto his spike, at least his mind had been taken off Megatron.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Motormaster offered to walk him to the wash-racks.

The naive seeker Starscream had been might have accepted such a gentlemanly offer, but he was wise enough now to know the sight of him under a solvent spray, bubbles tracking down his legs, armour speckled with droplets, might be too much for Motormaster to resist. And if Motormaster pushed his drenched frame against the wash-rack tiles and revved his engines and begged to have him again? What would he be able to do but melt and succumb to the truck's dangerous allure.

"Don't be a stranger." Motormaster chuckled, looping his arm around Starscream's back in the doorway. He kissed him, only a peck, then dipped his head to kiss Starscream's warm chest plates, under which their new-spark lay.

Starscream ignored the warm pool of interest brewing between his hips at such an endearing display and slipped out of his arms. "I'd love to stay longer-"

"I bet you would." Motormaster growled, and gave his aft a light slap to send him on his way.

Starscream walked with a smirk pulling his mouth. Knowing the Stunticon was watching him walk away from his position leant against his doorframe added an extra boost of confidence to his already soaring ego, and an extra sash-sway to his strut.

He turned the corner, and his good mood evaporated.

Rumble stood in the middle of the corridor, tiny frame doing it's best to block the way. Starscream glared down at Megatron's _favourite_ little minion.

"What do _you_ want?"

Rumble opened his mouth to answer, but paused, nose scrunching up as he sniffed at the air inquisitively, "Why'd you smell like burnt rubber?"

" _Motormaster_." Starscream muttered, crossing his arms awkwardly and now desperate for the wash-racks. "Get out of my way, gremlin. I've better things to be doing with my time than wasting it talking to you."

"Yeah, like shouting at Megatron." Rumble snapped.

Starscream blinked, embarrassed indignity surging, "What are you-? How is that _your_ business?!"

"S'not." Rumble shrugged, "Just thought you'd like to know he's back if you wanna apologise."

"Why the pits would I do that?" Starscream snarled, bending at the waist to meet Rumble's gaze and bare his teeth. "Where is he? I need to know what disastrous outcome his meeting with Prime resulted in."

"Command centre."

Starscream kicked Rumble aside with his foot (it was fine, he was durable) and decided to forgo a shower and the medbay to instead confront Megatron face-to-face. Then perhaps the old fool would know what it was like when he was _really_ being shouted at.

The nerve of him. And to think, all that hard work Motormaster had put into unwinding him and Megatron comes back and sends him right back to square one again.

Astrotrain was unsurprisingly loitering in the corridor outside the command centre, waiting with yet another cube for him. His face lit up when he saw Starscream. Starscream was about to shove past him with a disgusted scoff for what felt like the twelfth time that week- when an idea popped into his processor.

Astrotrain was softer than most but he was a large mech, and obviously eager to please. And something told Starscream he wasn't going to be coming out of this argument with Megatron in any better a mood than he was now...

"Don't move. Stay right there." He pointed at the surprised triple-changer, who, as requested, froze in place, facial expression and all. "This won't take a minute."

Only Astrotrain's wide hopeful optics followed Starscream as he passed into the command centre.

Inside, Megatron was sat atop one of the monitors, chin resting on his fist, a contemplative look on his face. Either side of him stood Shockwave and Soundwave, both too close for them to have been talking in anything but conspiratorial whispers. They straightened and backed away when the click of Starscream's heels reached their audials, and for mechs without expression, they both looked guilty.

"Seems my invitation to this meeting was lost." Starscream announced, striding towards them.

"You weren't invited." Megatron growled, and unlike Soundwave and Shockwave, didn't have the decency to look guilty. "This doesn't concern-"

"Doesn't _concern me_?!" Starscream cried, smacking away Soundwave's hand when it reached for him soothingly. "What did Prime want to talk to you about then?! If not me?!"

" _Obviously_ you were discussed." Megatron snapped.

"And what did you say?" Starscream hissed. "What did he offer you?"

Megatron hopped down from the monitor, face thunderous, "I didn't stay along enough to hear his offers-"

"So he _does_ want me." Starscream's spark flipped.

Megatron looked exasperated. "He claims to want to protect you-"

" _Protect_ -? He's a fragging Autobot!" Starscream howled.

"I know he's Autobot!" Megatron bellowed, and didn't even seem to notice bumping into Shockwave who'd thrust out an arm to keep them a healthy distance apart. "Which is why I told him to stuff it up his exhaust pipe!"

"Conversation; counterproductive." Soundwave interjected, blocking him, and Starscream couldn't even see Megatron from behind the larger mech's back. "Starscream is currently carrying-"

"Again?!" Starscream heard Megatron's incredulous hiss.

Starscream's face burned, tanks twisting. He bit down on his bottom lip and _seethed_.

"I concur." Shockwave stood with Soundwave. "The information gleaned from Prime might be better communicated through the official report of the interaction." He stared at Megatron. "Your emotional outbursts are detrimental to Starscream's spark function."

Starscream nudged him way past Soundwave in time to see Megatron's optics flare as he snorted. " _My_ emotional outbursts?!"

"You will be forwarded the information posthaste." Shockwave ignored Megatron and focused his large yellow optic on Starscream. "In the meantime, I would suggest you report to medical and see to your new-spark."

Starscream looked between the three larger mechs, Shockwave and Soundwave unhelpfully unreadable, and a furious Megatron refusing to even look at him.

"Whatever." He huffed. And left.

 

* * *

 

A quick stop at the medbay to offload Motormaster's new-spark and he was ready to go, taking Astrotrain's big hand in his own and leading the way.

"Are you sure you should be doing this so soon?" Astrotrain's hand twitched in his. "I can wait, Screamer, if you wanna do this tomorrow?"

"No, now." Starscream snapped. He was young and resilient, and Soundwave said he would know how often he could do this. His spark only ached a little from merging with Motormaster. He would be fine.

"And don't call me, Screamer." He added as an afterthought.

Astrotrain was one of the more laid back Decepticons, and since he was used to taking orders, he was on the more obedient than most of the dissident faction.  

Therefore the large triple-changer offered little more protest over the situation when Starscream dragged him into the nearest private space; flight ops. Megatron grounding the Air Force had left it deserted, and Starscream had no patience left in him to hike all the way down to the living quarters just so Astrotrain could spike him.

"Here's fine." He said, dragging the large mech through to the standby room, where an on-duty trine would recharge in the narrow bunks left there. It was a room close enough to the command centre if an emergency required a trine up and in the air with little to no notice.

Starscream laid across the nearest bunk and wriggled to find a comfortable position on the thin, worn-down padding, planting his pedes flat against the berth and bending his knees. He opened his modesty panel.

Astrotrain hovered at the end of the bunk, hesitating.

"What?" Starscream snapped.

"I'm kinda big."

"I can see that."

"My spike," Astrotrain glanced down at his codpiece for clarification, "Might hurt ya."

Starscream rolled his optics at the ego, pushing himself to his elbows. "I've had big spikes."

"Not 'triple-changer big'." Astrotrain huffed, sounding proud. "I know a couple tricks. Roll over."

"We're doing this to create a new-spark." Starscream reminded him, "Our sparks can't merge if I'm facing away-"

"This is just to stretch you out," Astrotrain explained, taking his hips and flipping him.

Starscream got his knees under him, rising onto all floors like how Motormaster had taken him the second -third?- round. He was still a little tender and soft from that, so he doubted Astrotrain would have much trouble opening him up-

"No," Astrotrain climbed onto the berth behind him to press him down to lie on his belly. "Flat."

Confused, but excited and curious, Starscream turned his head out of the pillow to watch Astrotrain. He felt huge hands on his aft spread him open, exposing the inner petals of his valve. It was hardly dignified. He flinched in surprise when Astrotrain blew on him, tingling valve clenching shut against the ticklish sensation.

"What are you _doing_?!"

"Gettin' ya wet." Astrotrain grunted, and what Starscream assumed was a finger traced the rim of his valve. "You're gonna need to be."

The finger pressed in, and yes, he would need to be. He grunted, surprised at the girth of just one finger. It wasn't all that much slimmer than Motormaster's spike had been. Astrotrain set to work, dipping his finger in and out, twisting it, curling it, pumping it, until Starscream was rocking into the sensation and Astrotrain was adding another.

"Hnng." He huffed when two fingers pressed in at once and scissored.

"That good?"

It was... a lot, but Starscream wasn't about to be outdone by _fingers_. He nodded shakily, spreading his legs a little further apart. Astrotrain nudged them back together with his knees though, keeping his thighs tightly clenched. "Trust me Screamer, you don't want to make it any easier me to get deeper."

Starscream made a questioning noise. Astrotrain pulled his fingers away, and Starscream felt how damp they were when they gripped his hip next. He laid still, listening to Astrotrain adjust his position over him. A heavy weight draped over his back, huge thighs on either side of his hips and a stiff shaft bumping his aft. He squirmed eagerly, and Astrotrain gripped his spike and started rubbing it against his valve.

Then pushing it inside.

It kept coming and coming. Starscream whined and tried to crawl forwards, away from the unrelenting pressure of hot stiff metal splitting him open, straining mesh and callipers alike. It was thick and long, and felt like it was cleaving him in two.

"Don't run from it," Astrotrain caught his wing and dragged him back, but did pause.

Starscream whined softly, turning his head out of the pillow, suffocating in his own overwhelming heat.

"Big, huh?" Astrotrain rumbled, and shifted forward more, slipping him another few inches.

"Oh Primus."

"Not quite." Astrotrain laughed, and sunk in till his hips were flush to a cherry red aft and Starscream couldn't breathe.

Unlike Motormaster, Astrotrain wasn't all that talkative once he got going. He settled on keeping close, keeping his spike deep, grinding instead of thrusting. Starscream moaned and groaned and rolled his head against the pillows, valve strained but stimulation minimal. It hurt to be so full, but he needed more, he needed fast, plunging thrusts.

"Please," he whined, clawing at the berth. "Just frag me, Primus, just-"

And just like that Astrotrain was out of him and flipping him onto his back. His ankles were grabbed, transferred into one massive hand, and then hoisted up, exposing his aft and valve. Astrotrain made a pleased noise and shuffled forwards on his knees and pushed back in.

Starscream's optics whited out, Astrotrain's spike reaching new depths, slipping so deep inside him it bumped the seal for his gestation tank. Starscream's hand fell to his abdomen. Astrotrain was _in_ there, so big and deep, his spike pressing up against his internals and filling him to bursting.

Astrotrain started to frag him, watching with an endeared expression as Starscream lost his mind and howled, overwhelmed by the fullness, convulsing with pleasure every time the spike inside him kissed the seal of his gestation tank. So big. Too big. His processor fizzled and melted in his helm.

He knew he'd overloaded more than once before Astrotrain released his legs and crawled between them, chest plates opening.

With a long, needy moan Astrotrain started to overload, still pumping his hips. He was a large mech with large transfluid reserves, and Starscream felt it overfill his valve and start tracking down his aft plating.

He was listless when their sparks met, and too exhausted by the 'facing to do more than twitch when his spark burned as it tore itself apart. He hissed through his teeth, unsure if it felt worse than before, or if he'd just forgotten how painful it could be.

It was easy to forget the pain, he thought, because 'facing was so much fun.

Astrotrain drew back, and Starscream's spark still throbbed, but it was ignorable with the little glowing ball of tranquility next to his own. His forth new-spark.

"Damn." Astrotrain breathed, looking down at it. "They're perfect."

Of course it was perfect, Starscream huffed, _he'd_ made it.

 

* * *

   
Astrotrain's attentions had been a work out his frame hadn't expected, so he ended up passing out in the standby room. He woke some hours later with a nervous Astrotrain hovering over him with -yet again- a cube.

The triple-changer had cleaned him up -to a degree- and thrown a sheet over him to keep him warm and preserve what remained of his dignity. With such a sore valve it took him a few tries to close his modesty panel properly...

"You gonna be okay?" Astrotrain offered to help him up.

Starscream slapped his hand away. "Fine." He smirked, hopping to his feet, and cringing instantly at the sharp jab of pain it caused.

Hook was unhappy when he turned up at his medbay for the second time in one day though.

"I'm smarter than you." The medic dared to say. "I don't care how many times you _think_ you can do it in one day, I'm _telling you_ , no spark is built to withstand near constant splitting."

"Is there something wrong with it?" Starscream challenged.

Hook scowled, "No, but-"

"Is there something wrong with _me_?"

"There will be if you go about splitting your spark every other hour." Hook snapped. "Three days between splits at an absolute minimum."

Starscream mouth fell open. "That'd take me a _month_  to make just ten!"

"Good." Hook slapped his tool down. "At least we know you'll function for the months following that."

"Soundwave said _I_ would know when I was ready to do it again." Starscream protested. "He's split his spark. He knows what he's talking about."

"Soundwave has split his spark a grand total of six times." Hook glared. "Over the course of hundreds of years. Only six-!"

"And now he can't anymore. He could have had dozens-"

"You've split your spark four times in one week." Hook interrupted.

"Successfully." Starscream reminded him.

"Luck." Hook glared. "And you're not a mech known for being lucky, Starscream. Quite the opposite, in fact. Quit while you're ahead and slow down. Or I'll inform Megatron."

"Oh, what's he gonna do?!" Starscream snarled. "Slap a padlock on my chest plates?!"

"Get out of here Screamer." Hook had finally had enough. "And it don't you dare come back here tomorrow with another one."

Starscream huffed, and just for that, decided to search for another potential sire, _tonight_.

 

* * *

 

He was pinged with files from Shockwave around halfway through his evening with Swindle. He glimpsed at the title, and realised it was the classified report from Megatron's meeting with Prime.

"Need to get that?" Swindle asked, at the end of the berth with one of Starscream's legs slung over his shoulder.

Laid on his side across the berth, with Swindle pumping languidly into him sideways, Starscream shook the faraway look from his expression and smirked. "It's nothing. Megatron."

"Business is business. I won't mind if ya need to take it?" Swindle patted his leg, and his smile turned mischievous. "I can be quiet."

"It's just a message." Starscream laid back, trying to refocus on enjoying this. "And it's not _you_ who needs to worry about being quiet."

Swindle grinned, and started stroking a finger around the rim of thruster heel resting on his shoulder. Starscream twitched at the foreign sensation, but didn't pull away. Swindle was somewhat more adventurous than the mechs he had been with so far. And he was a quick, clever talker too. Starscream had almost been talked into letting the Combaticon spike him up the aft port, which would have been _completely_ counterproductive to the creation of a new spark, yet had still seemed like a good idea after just ten minutes listening to Swindle's spiels.

And he'd still somehow been coaxed into letting Swindle finger it to 'get him in the mood'. Questions of 'why' were met with a shrug and, "Just to hear you moan."

"Sure I can't temp you?" Swindle asked, thumb brushing over his considerably looser aft port again.

"Another time maybe." Starscream could help a spike of genuine curiosity at the idea. "You're not doing this out of some ulterior motive, are you?" He arched a suspicious brow

"Hey," Swindle frowned, "I know you don't think much of me, but even _I_ have standards. Selling stolen parts, maybe. But a sparkling?"

Starscream optics flared. He hadn't even _thought_ of that possibility. "I meant doing this." He gestured between them. "Spiking me?"

"Like me being attracted to you?"

"Are you?" Starscream pressed, because lust was beginning to play a bigger and bigger role in this for him. He wanted to be desired. He wanted to know he was desired. Motormaster's open admittance to finding him attractive had somewhat spoiled him.

Swindle didn't answer his question with words. He dropped Starscream's leg and climbed over him, and started thrusting harder and faster, until Starscream moaned. Swindle's hands slipped under his frame and moved down to cup his aft, squeezing it in two rough handfuls, fingers wandering closer to the exposed port at the centre. Swindle pushed two fingers in, and Starscream overloaded shamelessly.

"That answer your question?" Swindle breathed into his audial.

Starscream dizzily opened his spark chamber, having forgotten what the question was in the first place.

 

* * *

 

To avoid the drama of enduring _two_ Hook-lectures in one day, Starscream sought out Scrapper instead. 

"Thought you already split one today?" Scrapper grunted, not completely oblivious, sadly.

"Who told you that?" Starscream asked innocently, opening his spark chamber.

"Hook."

"He has a lot to worry about these days." Starscream waved him off. "We can't expect him to keep track."

Scrapper flashed him a suspicious look, but seeing as there _was_ a new-spark in Starscream's chest and it _did_ need to be moved to the containment chamber, he said nothing more. As he scooped the latest addition to their ranks up into the static net for transfer, Starscream took a moment to study the new-sparks he'd already created.

"Are they healthy?" He asked.

Scrapper looked up, pausing halfway between him and the containment chamber, newest new-spark sitting in the static net. "Eh, yeah. Think so."

"And how are the protoforms coming along? Can I see them?"

Scrapper tipped the new-spark into it's section and scratched the back of his helm. "To be honest Screamer, you're kinda making these little guys faster than we can protoforms for them. Getting hard to keep up with demand. I suppose we could always scrap a couple Autobots for spare parts-"

"I'd rather you didn't." Starscream muttered, picturing a sparkling with Prowl's scowl, and shuddering.

"Well Hook's an artist. He says he won't be rushed."

"So there'll be delays?" Starscream scowled.

"S'not the sorta thing you wanna cut corners over." Scrapper shrugged, then patted the top of the containment chamber. "'Sides, they'll keep."

"Or perhaps you just need the proper motivation." Starscream reclined across the medberth seductively, spark chamber still open.

Scrapper knocked into an equipment table in surprise. "You- you _just_ split, Screamer. Do you wanna wait a few-"

"Oh, stop fussing," Starscream huffed. "You _want_ a sparkling. You've _earned_ a sparkling with all the hard work you've put into this."

"It's kind of a team effort." Scrapper murmured, but his gaze was still on Starscream's chamber, his optics dark and focused. "And I can't anyway. Not without the others."

"Others?" Starscream blinked.

"Hook, and Bonecrusher, and Long Haul, and-"

"Wait," Starcream thrust out a hand, sitting up. "You're telling me you want an audience?"

"Primus no, I-" Scrapper squinted at him. "We're sharing it. The new-spark. Thought you knew that."

Starscream stared, surprised at himself for not having realised that _of course_ there'd be more than just single mechs wanting new-sparks. Of course some of them had already formed family units.

"I can only merge with one spark at a time." Starscream clarified, having an sudden image of the entire gestalt on top of him. "There will only be one true sire."

Scrapper blew air out of his vents, "We know that. But we can work something out, for the other part of it."

Starscream swung his legs off the examination berth, processor spinning at how the mechanics of how that was going to work. "Yes. I'm sure."

"So, when should we-?"

"Ask your pal Hook." Starscream muttered. "He's the one fussing over how frequently I should be allowed to do this."

 

* * *

 

Starscream had intended to read the files Shockwave had forwarded him as soon as he returned to his quarters, but the exhaustion of repeatedly splitting his spark had him falling into recharge as soon as his helm hit the pillow. He hadn't realised how much it had taken out of him, limbs and optic shutters too heavy to fight against.

When he next woke, his spark was still aching. It usually recovered after a full nights rest, so perhaps he should heed the warning to take it somewhat easier.

He brought up the file he had meant to get to the night before, but was distracted from opening it when he glimpsed his chrono. He sat up in shock, realising he'd been recharging for _two days._

"What the-?"

It wasn't a malfunction. There were dozens of missed messages sitting in his inbox to prove it, most of them unsubtle enquiries as to whether he was busy, or fancied meeting up for a re-fuel, from overeager potential sires. He deleted them, along with what looked like a seven page rant from Thundercracker about 'the immaturity of ignoring those who cared about him most'.

There was also a snotty little message from Megatron, reminding him that his off-shift activities did not make him exempt from his regular duties and role-calls.

As much as he resented the idea, it was probably best he mentioned his two day coma to Hook at least. He groggily climbed out of berth and went in search of him, head heavy and processor slow, like he was long overdue a full reboot.

Despite having already gotten what he wanted, Astrotrain was _still_ loitering in the corridor outside his quarters with a cube. He noticeably cheered when he spied Starscream wobbly making progress towards him.

"Scream- Commander." He corrected respectfully, and Starscream gratefully took the cube that was offered, desperate for it. "Haven't seen you around."

"I needed a break." Starscream admitted, and found himself having to hide a smile behind the cube at Astrotrain's genuine concern. "Thank you." He mumbled.

"No problem." Astrotrain walked with him, slowing his stride to keep pace with him. "Saw our new-spark yesterday. Think she recognises me."

"I'm sure they do." Starscream tried not to sound too exasperated.

"Asked Hook to design a her into a triple-changer, like me. Be bigger than _you_ before you know it."

Starscream hadn't thought much on the adults all those new-sparks would become, past them being undyingly loyal to him for giving them life that is. Would carrier protocols urge him to bond with them? Or would the early separation be enough to sever that natural bond?

They wouldn't need him anyway. It was their sires who should raise them, pick their frame types, their alt-modes, their designations...

"I asked Hook to give her your nose though."

Starscream's aching spark pulsed at the thought. " _Why_?"

Astrotrain shrugged, "You gotta nice nose."

He had a nice _everything_ actually.

He shoved the empty cube at Astrotrain and parted from him with a vague mumble, heading for the medbay and trying not to think too hard on all the miniature manufactured versions of himself there would be running around before he knew it.

 

* * *

 

He was supposed to be filling Hook and Scrapper in on the toil his spark had taken by the repeated splits- giving them a heavily edited version of events so neither of them would know he had done it three times in just over twenty fours hours. But when he entered the medbay, all _five_ Constructicons were present. And it was apparent they'd been discussing the offer he'd made to Scrapper at great length.

The green and purple gaggle were often indifferent at best towards him, so the gruff but enthusiastic greeting somewhat threw him when he entered the room, a thick green arm slung over his shoulder and drawing him into the middle of their group.

A sudden burst of nervousness turned his tongue to lead and had his tanks clenching, and he somehow ended up confirming that _yes_ , he felt _fine_ and _yes_ , was here to provide them with their new-spark. And _sure_ , let's do it now.

He blamed his own idiotic libido and how weak his resolve had grown around big, burly mechs. It was like the processor in his head was offline and he could think only with his valve.

He had no idea how this was supposed to work, but he sat on the berth and watched with raised brows as the Constructicons squabbled over drawing straws. Scavenger drew the shortest, and for one moment seemed to light up with rare excitement, before Bonecrusher snatched it off him and then Mixmaster tried to snatch it off _him_ , and Scrapper had to break them up before a brawl broke out.

"You're not making a good impression." Scrapper folded his arms reproachfully.

The weight of his disapproval did not have the desired effect on a mech as stubborn as Bonecrusher though.

"To pit with this," he growled, shoving Mixmaster away and closing in on Starscream.

Starscream probably should have pushed him back, said ' _wait_ ', at least until he knew exactly how this was all supposed to work. If it was something that needed to be choreographed and discussed. He was happy to interface with all of them, but one at a time, and he'd only be merging once.

But Bonecrusher was gruff and masculine, something Starscream had learned he _liked_ , a lot. He only stuttered out his conditions in half-formed sentences, Bonecrusher's head nodding impatiently along.

"Yeah, yeah, c'mere."

It was all a blur of green, then purple, thick fingers in an already exposed valve and a heavy spike against his thigh. Someone gave Bonecrusher's head a shove to the side and then Starscream was being kissed, clumsy but gently. He unshuttered his optics and found Scavenger's revealed mouth on his own, and lifted his hands to cup the back of the Constructicon's head, bringing him closer. He liked being kissed.

A big hand lifted his leg under the knee and pulled it out to the side, then Bonecrusher was mounting him, with a dismissive, "Get off my case," to Scrapper as he began to push in. "I ain't sparking him, just wanna go first."

His sentence finished with a grunt as his entire length was swallowed, his spike in to the hilt.

Bonecrusher started fragging him, and distantly, through the fog of pleasure, Starscream could hear Bonecrusher's praise, that he was tight and wet, and other lewd comments that made Starscream's cheeks sear with heat but his valve clench and flutter with want. A finger found his node and rolled over it.

Starscream lost himself to bliss, a thick spike in his valve and hands all over his wings, a tongue twining with his own. Bonecrusher slammed deep and overloaded with a roar, thick ropes of transfluid shooting from his spike and painting Starscream's internals.

Before Starscream even recognised that he was gone, Mixmaster was there, kissing his thighs and licking up his valve before taking his spike and pressing in.

"You okay?" Scavenger asked, and Starscream smiled goofily, frame on the cusp of an overload and spark singing. Mixmaster was faster than Bonecrusher, both in pace and in completion. He held deep when he finished, lazily mouthing at the side of Starscream's head.

Scrapper came next, nuzzling Starscream's neck cables and occasionally at Scavenger whose head was pillowed on his shoulder. He oozed authority and confidence, and Starscream lifted his legs to lock them around Scrapper's waist, urging him on, wanting more of him, wanting him harder and deeper. But Scrapper kept a controlled pace, one hand braced against Starscream's wing as he drove into him.

Hook came next, and didn't touch Starscream much, only present in this to supply his share of the coding for the new-spark. Starscream didn't mind, focusing instead on Scavenger stroking his helm, and the sight of Mixmaster taking Long Haul's spike into his intake. He could hear the suction of his mouth, the oral lubricant glistening on the shaft as it withdrew and sank in again.

Hook overloaded with a sharp breath, and now that it was his turn, Long Haul pushed Mixmaster off his spike and crawled towards Starscream, thick erect shaft swaying. He was damp from Mixmaster's mouth, and Starscream was from the accumulation of overloads, both his own and others. Long Haul slipped in easily, the mesh of Starscream's valve so slick the glide was smooth and silky. Long Haul moaned.

He took his time, hands running over every inch of Starscream's frame, savouring it, savouring _him_ , whispering in awe at how pretty his wings were when they twitched and flicked in time with his thrusts.

And Starscream overloaded, because praise did that to him apparently.

When Scavenger was finally allowed his turn, he was gentle, and careful. Sore and oversensitive from his overload, Starscream approved of the treatment. He curled his limbs about Scavenger and grasped softly at every measured pump of his hips.

When their spark chambers opened, the Constructicons around them drew closer, curious and hopeful. The connection sent a surge of power through Starscream, and his spark once again began to separated itself.

He cried out, thighs clenching around Scavenger as he braced himself against the initial expected sting, but something was wrong. It only grew worse.

"Ow," he hissed, but couldn't pull away, his spark in mid-merge with Scavenger's but _burning_. He cried out again, sharp and panicked. His spark sizzled, burning out, not creating, but evaporating, receding, shrinking. 

He heard Scavenger panicking, Hook panicking, Bonecrusher swearing. Hands tried to prise then apart, but it made it worse.

Scavenger's frantic apologies were all he heard as his senses faded out and he fell into an emergency shut down.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Starscream was sore.

That was the only sensation he could focus on as he groggily came around, feeling disconnected and empty, like a sack of spare parts someone had strewn across a berth. Most of his none vital hardware was offline, he noticed. Flight, battle, and basic mobility. He tried to shift and his legs felt like dead weight, trapped under the sheets.

He tried to move his fingers instead, still feeling sensation but not necessarily control. They twitched when he tried to curl them into a fist. Despite a full fuel tank and topped up power readouts, he was run down and exhausted.

He twitched again when something brushed his the backs of his now stilled fingers. A sensation like a warm hand covering his own. A rough thumb slipped along his palm and stroked, back and forth, just the barest hint of pressure.

He tried to speak, but with such a sluggish vocaliser what came out sounded like a dial up tone.

"You don't need to wake up yet." A voice, rasping and low, somehow both far away and right in his audial, advised. "I would go back to sleep, if I were you."

Starscream couldn't place the sense of dread that lingered somewhere in the back of his sedative drenched processor, but he knew he was in trouble. The twist of shame in his gut told him he'd done something unbelievably stupid. He was used to making mistakes, but few made him feel like this.

He stopped fighting against the pull of unconsciousness. The oblivious realm of sleep was preferable to the guilty clench of his damaged spark, and the distracted, undeserving stroke of a thumb to his clammy palm.

Primus, he thought, feeling another hand brush over his forehead, to get this level of sympathy he must have done something _really_ bad.

 

* * *

 

It was some indiscernible time later -hours, or days- that he woke, not with slow gradual awareness easing him back into the land of consciousness, but with a sudden snap, like jolting out of a nightmare.

He inhaled sharply, intakes stinging with the rush of air. Systems fired back in one great confusing burst of energy. With sensors back online, his chest felt like an overheated, tender mess, like someone had wrapped a fist around his spark and squeezed it out of shape.

Reeling, he squinted his optics online, trying to focus them as they rolled about in his head and settled on a large blurry shadow looming over his berth, blocking out the overhead lighting.

He adjusted the lens and blinked until the dark blob turned into Megatron.

Ah, _Megatron_ , he thought soppily.

Until Megatron's expression came into focus.

Oh yes. He remembered now. He was in trouble.

"Slag," Starscream muttered, scooting away out of self-preservation. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Standing vigil." Megatron growled, then yelled, "Hook!" without tearing those dark judgmental optics away.

He was furious. Starscream cringed back, pulling the insulation covers that had been laid across him up to his chest to better protect himself from the piercing glare. "What happened?"

Megatron optics flared to a manic extent. "What _happened?!"_

Starscream shrank back, sinking into his pillow. Before Megatron could lose what little remained of his temper Hook come rushing in, relief oozing from his field, palpable from the other side of the room.

His uncharacteristically cautious gestalt inched into the private room too, but kept their distance from the berth (and Megatron) allowing Hook to reach his side alone and breathe a thankful, "You're awake."

Uncomfortable with the obvious concern from a mech who usually wouldn't give two slags, even though he _was_  their acting medic, Starscream squirmed away from the hands that began checking him over, pulling a face. "You're acting like I was _dying_ -"

Megatron made a furious hissing noise like an old steam train, and thinking the fusion cannon was about to whoop online, Starscream ducked behind his covers like they could be used as a shield. But no blast was forthcoming, Starscream peaked over the covers to witness Hook attempting to herd the incensed beast that was their leader back.

"Eh, perhaps you could..." Hook made a shooing motion at Megatron. "Just for a moment."

With a huff and dangerous loom that promised he wasn't finished with Starscream, Megatron stomped off and shouldered his way between the watching Constructicons to stand himself at the opposite end of the medbay. Starscream craned his neck to stare after him, wondering what was _wrong_ with him when he just stood facing the wall, shoulders rising and falling with harsh furious breaths like he'd sent himself to his own timeout.

Before Starscream could enquire as to what had happened to Megatron's sanity in his absence, Hook produced and flicked on a datapad.

"Now, first of all, I'm not mad." Hook said, which was something only someone who was mad would say. "So I want you to be honest with me."

"I'm always honest." Starscream said standoffishly.

Hook exhaled deeply. "Your spark came very close to extinguishing itself." He said bluntly.

Starscream didn't believe him. He felt fine. He blew air past his lips. "Oh  _really_? Perhaps it's time you renewed your medical licence-"

"I was there." Hook cut across him. "We all were." He gestured back to his shuffling gestalt. "We almost lost you."

Starscream looked past Hook at Megatron's tensing back. He swallowed. "Well, I'm fine now so-"

"This is serious." Hook growled. " _You_ nearly deactivated, _we_ almost lost the new-spark-"

Starscream's aching, half-repaired spark _panged_ at the sudden realisation that he wasn't the only party to have been affected by what had happened. He'd forgotten- he hadn't realised- he'd been so self absorbed-

It hit home with sudden harsh clarity. His hand flew to his chest, but he knew his spark was alone in it's chamber. "The new-spark?"

"We got it out. It's weak, but it'll pull through." Hook softened his tone, then smiled over his shoulder at his gestalt. "Besides, it has five dedicated sires to take care of it..."

Starscream stared at his sheet clad knees. "...I didn't- I-"

"It's not your fault." Hook reassured him, but it wasn't true. It was his fault. "We just need to find out what caused the-"

"It was my fault. Obviously!" Starscream hissed out, unable to look up with the guilt coursing through his frame. "I..."

"Starscream-"

"It was!" He snapped and shoved Hook away when a hand fell to his in an awkward attempt at comforting him. "You know it was. You told me to slow down and I didn't! You _know_ I didn't!"

"The new-spark will be fine." Hook said with firm unrelenting confidence. Starscream stared at him, but he couldn't tell what he was thinking. "These things just happen sometimes. It's just part of life."

"It didn't 'just happen', it was my fault." Starscream hissed, feeling miserable and stupid and unable to stop thinking about that weak little spark they pulled from his chest and struggled to save. All because his spark wasn't strong enough.

"Alright, that's enough," Megatron was suddenly in control of his emotions again and barging his way back through the wall of Constructicons. When his optics passed over Starscream, he looked just as thunderous and disappointed as he had before.

Vulnerable and feeling more than just a little emotionally compromised, Starscream dropped to the berth and pulled the covers over his head, blocking out the world. The last thing he needed was to get into an argument with Megatron about how useless he was.

"Now that your suspicions have been confirmed, I'd like a word with Starscream alone." He heard Megatron tell Hook.

Starscream tightened the covers around himself.

Shuffling footsteps indicated the Constructicons were leaving. Then there was a creak of something heavy settling into the flimsy visitor's chair next to his berth, and a deep exhale of breath. After a moment, a hand landed on Starscream's wing through the covers and gave him a little shake.

"Come out from there."

"I'm not in the mood." Starscream told his pillows, voice heavily muffled.

"We're going to have this conversation like adults, Starscream."

Was that a dig at him lying about his age again?! Starscream threw the covers off with a burst of indignity. "What?!"

One look at Megatron's face and his temper cooled as quickly as it had risen. The older mech was hunched over in the tiny chair, face lined with wear and exhaustion, little fight left in him for this. Starscream fiddled with the covers to save himself from looking at the clear disappointment in Megatron's optics.

"You've been out for just under a week." Megatron began. "Which gave Soundwave plenty of time to ask around the base and compile a timeline of events that lead up to your little incident. Would you like to see it?"

Starscream's cheeks felt hot, thinking about that day filled with arguments and hedonism disguised as favours. "No."

"Is that because it would drive home the idiocy of your actions?"

"I waited two whole days before splitting again!" Starscream argued, feeling he could at least defend himself there. So maybe he'd kept some things secret, maybe he'd told a few white lies, but that didn't mean _everything_ was the fault of the frequency of his splitting.

"You were in _recovery stasis_ for those two days," Megatron's gaze darkened again, leaning forward in his seat. "Which you would have known had you mentioned it to someone. Hook studied your readouts intensely. You should have gone to him as soon as you woke and realised-"

"I _did_ go to him!" Starscream argued.

"And jumped into an orgy with him and his gestalt." Megatron snapped. "You should have told him!"

Starscream really didn't have an excuse for that, but, "I was busy!"

"Do you have no sense?!" Megatron barked. "You knew you were compromised-"

"I was handling it!"

"You were handling nothing. You're lucky you didn't suffer permanent damage." Megatron shouted. Starscream opened his mouth to argue but Megatron cut across him. "No. I want to know why. What possessed you to do this? What possessed you to knowingly risk your own spark?! Your ability may well be a gift, yes, but that is no reason to disregard your own well being!"

Starscream looked away, struggling for an answer that didn't make him look like a complete idiot. Why had he done it?! Because he liked the attention? Because he liked... the interfacing? He looked into Megatron's stern, concerned face.

"I don't know?!" He threw up his arms.

Megatron sighed again, leaning back in his seat and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Primus help me..."

"Don't be so dramatic." Starscream folded his arms and muttered into them.

"You've yet to see what true drama is. Do not push me." Megatron levelled a finger at his face. "Hook and Scrapper have written up a list of conditions for your release from the medbay-"

"Release?!" Starscream sat up again. "What am I? A prisoner in here?"

"Yes!" Megatron snarled unashamedly. "Since you can't be trusted not to split yourself into an early extinguishing. You're to stay here under supervision, until your spark function returns to normal. And Hook plans on running tests. He believes your new protocols are glitching and making you irrational-"

"They're not!" Starscream slammed his fists against the berth.

Megatron pointed the finger again in warning. "He's going to make adjustments."

"And what? Turn me into an emotionless, unfeeling machine like Shockwave?"

"I would advise you not to tempt him." Megatron said darkly, rising slowly. "And Starscream," He paused just before turning to leave. "If you're really so desperate for sexual gratification, there _is_ such a thing as self-serving."

He left, and it took Starscream's face a full half hour to cool down from the searing embarrassment.

 

* * *

  
He had to spend another full week in the medbay, something he would have previously expected to drive him nuts. It actually wasn't too bad. He had half the base visiting him, dotting on him, bringing him gifts, telling him gossip, letting him vent about what a fool Megatron was.

Thundercracker and Skywarp came by as well, and fondly called him an idiot as they gave his neglected frame the well needed polish he hadn't had the energy to give himself since waking up.

He spent some time watching the Constructicons make progress on commissioned protoforms. Scavenger and Scrapper would return from scouting missions with spare parts pilfered from humans, mostly greasy car parts, clunky computers, and rusty microwaves. They occasionally found (stole) gems; unblemished glass, new wheels, good strong sheets of metal perfect for shaping into armour. Their finds, along with what was scavenged from the base's storage, meant they had enough to work with.

Still, Starscream would sort through the boxes of parts and toss out what he felt was subpar. He may not have the time or energy to create these protoforms the old fashioned way, from gestation nanites and raw materials, but no sparkling of _his_ was looking like they'd been built out of rusty scrap.

And then there were the new-sparks themselves. He sat by the containment chambers on a night and watched them spin, warmed by their soft familiar glow. He could see differences in them now. Some were bigger than others. Some were brighter. Some span slowly, and some were excited pinballs of energy. He found himself smiling like a proud fool sometimes, and had to snap himself out of it, telling himself to get a grip.

The little speck he'd almost lost was one of his favourites though, much smaller than the others but a bright, determined little thing.

"Stubborn little blip." He whispered to it, stroking his finger down the glass, wondering if it knew he was there.

As much as he unexpectedly enjoyed his imprisonment, he was inching to get out by the time Hook gave him his last check up and protocol adjustment. He wanted to get out, stretch his legs, strut about the base and remind everyone who was back and on top.

"No spark-splitting for another week." Hook told him when he was done, closing him all up. "And even then, inform me when you're doing it so someone can be standing by."

Starscream's mouth fell open. " _Another_ week?!"

"Yes." Hook glared. "Do you want this to happen again?!"

"No! But I-" He cut himself off, frowning. He'd become accustomed to the intimate company of other mechs, and the week without it, even worn out and aching as he was, had taken it's toll on his patience. He hadn't known how he'd survived before.

"Your libido should have started calming down." Hook murmured thoughtfully, checking his findings again.

"It has!" Starscream snapped, embarrassed at how involved everyone was with his damn libido. It was like they all thought he was a sex-crazed maniac, forgetting that he'd never been doing this for the interfacing in the first place (it was just a happy bonus). He was doing this for the good of their species. Because he was a kind and generous seeker.

Hook hummed disbelievingly. "Alright, just don't take any partners this week." He advised. "Use a toy instead. Best not to get tempted-"

"I'm not an idiot." Starscream hissed, wanting to get away before the medic changed his mind and took another look.

"And Starscream," Hook stopped him before he left. "I'll know if you've lied again."

Starscream rolled his optics. Unlikely.

 

* * *

 

As much as he'd been looking forward to freedom, he paraded himself around the base and soaked in the adoration of his well wishers for only a few minutes before feeling tired again and retreating to his quarters. He crawled into his berth, wondering why his spark couldn't just bounce back. He was young. He was virile.

He was _exhausted_.

What was wrong with him?

Too anxious to sleep, but too tired to do anything, he flicked through some of the missed messages of the past week. There were pages beyond pages of 'get well soon's, some he enjoyed rereading just for the sycophantic boost they offered. When he came to the end of them, he found a file from Shockwave.

With all the drama of injuring himself, he'd forgotten...

It was the forwarded report from Megatron's meeting with Prime.

Definitely awake now, he rolled onto his side and opened the file internally, glancing over Soundwave's intel pages; boring notes about who was present and how the Autobots appeared to be faring. Prime had only brought his lieutenant, Jazz, making it a rather small meeting.

He skipped to the audio file Soundwave had recorded of the meeting.

" _Prime_ ," Megatron spoke first, in the same booming voice he used across battlefields.

There was a brief pause, then. " _Megatron. Thank you for meeting with me. I know, with recent developments as they are, you must be busy."_

There was a rumbling noise like a growl. " _What do you want?"_

" _Nothing_." Starscream scoffed when Prime spoke, hardly believing that. " _Just a reassurance. Is Starscream safe?"_

There was silence for some time. Starscream was only listening to the recorded audio, but even in the quiet of his own quarters, safe in his berth, he could feel the tension building between the two enemies.

" _Starscream's safety is no concern of yours_." Megatron finally bit out.

 _"We know it's him_." Prime wasn't remotely beating around the bush. " _Unfortunately it's become common knowledge amongst the humans too. They have his picture-"_

" _And whose fault is that_?" Megatron thundered. " _Is throwing the future of your own species under the bus really worth it to get rid of Starscream_?"

Prime sounded annoyed when he tried to answer. " _As much as Starscream is our enemy-"_

" _Don't tell me it wasn't your mechs_!" Megatron cut across him, " _None of my soldiers are galavanting off with meat sacks!"_

" _We are working to discover the source of the leak_." Optimus admitted stiffly. "I _expect it was an accident, one of our allies underestimating the sensitivity of the information-"_

" _That is what happens when you allow humans into your home, Prime._ " Megatron was unforgiving. " _They can't be trusted_."

"... _I know_." Prime said after a pause. " _We have heard... concerning rhetoric from various governments in regards to Starscream and his potential. Powerful men would do him harm-"_

" _Is that what you're here for? To warn me_?"

" _Yes. And to offer my assistance."_

There was a very long pause. Starscream listened closely, slowing his vents so he wouldn't miss a word.

" _No._ "

" _Megatron_ ," Prime sounded impatient. " _Starscream is a target_ -"

 _"He's always been a target! So you can keep whatever disgusting offer you're going to make. I don't trade off soldiers_."

 _"I am not asking for a trade. I am asking you to join me in putting aside our differences_." Prime said with surprising control. " _We don't expect_ -"

" _Don't even say it._ " Megatron snarled. " _Starscream remains with me. With us. He is safe where he is. Your Autobots are the mechs who put him at risk to begin with."_

" _The offer stands_."

 _"Keep your offers. We're done here_." Megatron sneered, " _Soundwave_ -"

The audio cut out.

Starscream stared at the ceiling, caught somewhere between worry and appreciation. He'd never heard Megatron talk about him like that. So possessively. And it may have been delusion, but he'd almost sounded protective too.

That Megatron would turn down an alliance with an overly trusting Prime was worrying though. That was a rare opportunity to miss out on. It might have offered them the chance to lure the entire faction of fools into a trap.

Using him as bait, of course. But he'd be prepared to do that if it meant victory, and a safer world for his progeny.

Then on the other side of things, the Autobots could be genuine? He could imagine what Prime expected in return for cooperation though. He hadn't really thought much of expanding beyond the Decepticons when it came to sire coding. Part of him was repulsed by the thought; disgusting, weak, organic loving Autobot sensibilities corrupting his new-sparks.

Another part (the lust drenched, idiotic part that had almost gotten him killed) thought it might be exciting, interfacing with his enemies, something risky and taboo and dangerous.

His array pulsed between his hips and he puffed out a breath, annoyed. He had worked himself up now too...

With a grumble of irritation he rolled onto his back and stroked his panel. It slipped back quickly and he absently touched himself, thinking back to Megatron and Prime's conversation. But more specifically just Megatron's angry voice snarling at Prime.

' _Starscream remains with me_ '. He liked the way Megatron said his designation. The rasp of his vocaliser drew it out, the soft 'a', the harsh, rolling 'r'. It sent shivers down his back strut. It was so often said with disappointment, exasperation...

It was an utterly ridiculous thing to be turned on by.

He rolled his fingers over his node, swirled the sensor pads against it in slow circles. It was nice, but it wasn't like getting fragged. He slipped a finger inside himself, but his sensors didn't like light up and tingle, even when he added another and pushed against callipers, no matter how vividly he thought of Megatron...

He pulled his fingers out and wiped them on the berth sheet, sighing.

Plan b it was.

 

* * *

 

It didn't take long to find potential partner.

Breakdown was up late, tinkering with a broken tv in one of the recreational rooms. He looked up when Starscream leant in the doorway, seductive and cool, but Breakdown only smiled in greeting and went back to his work. He didn't seem to get the subtle hint.

Starscream hesitated, unsure how to proceed. Usually, all he was expected to do was say 'yes'. It was everyone _else_ who did the chasing.

How did one... proposition someone for sex? It was easy enough to offer a sparkling, it wasn't so personal when they rejected his offer then. But to sidle up to someone and ask if they were willing to dedicate the better part of their evening to pleasuring him?

And what if they did reject him? What if they didn't want him?

"...I'm free tonight." He announced.

Breakdown looked up again, blinking. It took him a moment, but, "Oh, you mean for-"

Starscream nodded. Regardless of what Hook thought, It had been a full week. He felt much better. And he'd only be doing it once, then he'd rest up properly. Just once...

"Thought you were sick." Breakdown rubbed the back of his thick neck.

"I'm not now." Starscream smiled, and sash swayed over to Breakdown's work bench. "And I know how desperate you are for a new-spark."

"Yeah," Breakdown agreed, frowning, "More than anything..."

"Well," Starscream went to slip into his lap, "Lets-"

"Not here." Breakdown stopped him, standing abruptly, awkward and nervous.

"Wherever then." Starscream said, struggling with his own impatience.

Breakdown nodded and took his hand, leading him. Starscream assumed he was taking him to his quarters, a private space where he could press him into his berth and make it slow and sweet. It wasn't quite what he was looking for this evening. He wanted something rough and hard, but he was willing to take what he could get.

But Breakdown wasn't taking him to his quarters.

Starscream realised that too late when they turned a corner in the dark corridor and Megatron's huge frame blocked the path.

Starscream muffled a squeak and tried to flee in the opposite direction, yanking on Breakdown's arm to drag him with him. But the larger mech had planted himself and remained in place, causing Starscream to clothesline himself with Breakdown's arm. He hadn't time to consider an alternative route of escape before Megatron was marching up to them.

"Thank you, Breakdown."

Starscream spluttered. "You-?! He-?!"

"You can go." Megatron dismissed the Stunticon. Breakdown at least had the decency to mouth a sheepish apology as he left.

"I-?!" Starscream was still picking his jaw off the floor. "Did you set a _trap_ for me?!"

"No." Megatron was unhappy at that insinuation. "The entire base is aware of your condition. No mech in his right mind would be brave enough to spark you."

"How do you know he was going to spark me?!" Starscream challenged. "Maybe we were just working off mutual charge?"

"I know, because he sent he a message and told me you offered it." Megatron glared. "A lesser mech might have been tempted."

"A better mech wouldn't have ratted me out."

"Come on." Megatron made a motion to move him along.

Starscream didn't move. "Where are you taking me?"

"You're going back to the medbay."

Starscream's spark dropped. "No!" He cried, "I just got out of there, I'm not going back. Bonecrusher snores!"

It was a childish argument, but for once, Megatron's strict demeanour was faulting. "What would you suggest then? You've been out for half a day and you're already disregarding Hook's orders-"

"I outrank Hook." Starscream protested.

"Not over your health, you don't." Megatron warned him. "You need to be watched or contained until Hook can see you to. So it's a night locked in the medbay, or the _brig_. Your choice."

"Isn't there a third option?" Starscream pouted, making his optics as big as possible.

Megatron stared down at him, mouth pressed into a stubborn, unrelenting frown.

Nothing Starscream hadn't overcome before.

 

* * *

 

Five minutes later, they were in Megatron's quarters and Starscream was struggling not to look too pleased with himself.

He was given the berth, and was surprised the old mech didn't decide to join him in it. He'd never known Megatron to go without in order to better accommodate a 'lesser'. Starscream tried not to think about it, crawling onto the expansive berth on his hands and knees and flopping himself down in it's centre.

It was a large berth. Twice the size of his and double the materials. Starscream wondered how Megatron justified it to himself. Because he was more important? Because he was a larger mech?

Starscream hadn't seen Astrotrain's quarters but he was willing to bet even the huge triplechanger didn't have a berth this size.

Megatron stood at the end of the berth and watched him get in. Why? Because he didn't trust him to do it? Or because... he liked watching Starscream crawl on his hands and knees? When he was settled under the covers, he met Megatron's gaze. The older mech turned away with a gruff noise to clear his vocaliser, so perhaps it had been the latter.

Starscream hoped it was.

He laid down and watched Megatron take a seat in an arm chair beside a shelf of datachips.

"You're not recharging?"

"I'd rather not." Megatron glanced over the top of his datapad. "It's best I keep an optic on you till morning. Then Hook can double check your protocols."

"There's nothing wrong with my protocols."

"You're an intelligent mech," Megatron surprised him by saying. "And as foolish as you are, I don't believe you'd act this stupidly if you were in possession your usual senses."

Starscream tugged the sheets up around himself. "Then It's not _my_ fault." He began.

"I know." Megatron sighed. "So go to recharge and shut up."

Starscream tried. He really did. Closing his optics and filling his head with advanced algorithms to clear it of pesky emotional thoughts. But every so often Megatron would sigh or shift, and he opened his optics to peak, watch the large mech slump further down his seat as the night dragged on.

Eventually there was a light clatter, the datapad falling from Megatron's hand. Starscream sat up and smirked when he saw the old mech was asleep.

He must have been possessed by _Skywarp_ when the stupid urge to sneak up on his leader and prank him overtook logical thought. Draw a fake moustache perhaps, and some goofy eyebrows on the helmet. He slipped out of the berth and knocked around inside the drawer of Megatron's desk to find an ink pen, but just as he was approaching Megatron, the older mech's optics snapped online.

Starscream abruptly span and started walking in the opposite direction.

"What were you doing?" Megatron called tiredly, rubbing his face to rouse himself. 

"Nothing." Starscream lied, and climbed back into the berth, hiding the pen in his subspace with a flush of embarrassment because _what was he doing_?! Acting like a mechling?!

Megatron rose. Starscream rolled away give him space when he came to sit on the berth, taking up more than half, but remaining atop the covers as he laid down. Starscream laid stiff and watched him over the sheets bundled up to his nose, taking in long legs, big hands, a strong, thick waist, and shoulders that looked like they could hold up the world.

No grounder had any right to look like Megatron did.

"Do you find me attractive?" Starscream asked quietly. Desperate to know. Knowing he couldn't recharge without knowing...

"I find you distracting." Megatron grunted without looking at him.

It wasn't necessarily a 'no', and distracting? That could mean anything.

"I'll still give you a sparkling." He offered graciously, thinking back to their argument, days ago now. "If you made it worth my while, that is."

Megatron wasn't swayed by his seductive tone. He reached behind himself for a pillow and dropped it on Starscream's face. "A generous offer. Now go to recharge."

Starscream lifted the pillow off his face with a huff and rolled onto his side. Ungrateful rust bucket.

 _What_ did he have to do to get laid around here?!

 


	5. Chapter 5

Starscream woke, cheek atop a warm chest. There was an arm around his back, weighty and distracting, and blunt knuckles running up and down his side, from wing joint to hip. He enjoyed it in silence for a moment, lingering in that blissful space between sleep and wakefulness, before the familiar scent of gunpowder and engine grease and _authority_ was placed in his muddled head.

Realising that it was Megatron he was cozied up to and that he hadn't yet been pushed away, he slid his hands out of the covers to palm at that big warm chest.

Which clued Megatron into the fact that he wasn't asleep anymore.

He groaned a sleepy protest when the stroking stopped and the arm was removed and so was the chest. He laid face down on the berth, clumsily searching the padding next to him for where Megatron had retreated to.

"Medbay." Was the single word grunted at him from somewhere across the room. But by the time Starscream had lifted squinting optics, the door was closing, and he was alone in cooling sheets.

 

* * *

 

"We need a professional." Long Haul lamented right in front of Starscream, which just _filled_ him with confidence.

"I _am_ a professional." Hook took offence.

"A real one."

It started an argument, naturally, and Starscream was left counting ceiling tiles on the medberth where they'd left him. Hook had been tinkering around with his protocols all morning and asides from making him feel itchy under the plating, it hadn't seemed to have achieved anything new.

"Do the Autobots have Processor Pickers?"

"You mean mnemosurgeons." Hook corrected him snottily. "And no. Not on Earth."

"But they have medics?"

"I _am_ a medic!"

"Yeah, a 'field' medic."

"Can I _go_?" Starscream interrupted their argument, sitting up.

"No!" They answered in chorus.

He dropped back down again and started recounting the ceiling tiles.

"We should just take one!" Mixmaster called from what sounded like the other room, loud and sure of himself.

"What?!" Hook turned to shout back. And Starscream didn't know _why_ they felt the need to shout at each other through walls when they could just _communicate via their gestalt link!_

"A medic!" Mixmaster clarified through the wall.

"From the Autobots?"

"Yeah!"

"What makes you think they'd be any better than me!?" Hook planted his hands on his hips.

"Their medical license." Long Haul muttered.

But not quietly enough.

There was a muffled curse and a series of clangs as the pair of them came to blows. Mixmaster still yelling from the other room, unaware he'd been talking to himself for some time now.

So all in all it wasn't a particularly successful morning for Starscream. Not only was he no better off than he had been last night when Megatron had caught and savagely spike-blocked him, but it looked like the stress he was putting Hook under was pushing the Constructicons to the brink of divorce.

And to make matters worse, their boisterous rough and tumble had... had worsened certain urges.

He cringed and tried to think of unsavourily, libido-killing things, but it was little use. His processor seemed to have re-wired itself to find everything sexy, _even_ the thought of a kidnapped Autobot medic, with their red badge, and blue optics, their medical tools and clever hands...

He was just about to consider sneaking off beyond the net of Megatron's overcautious wishes to do something foolish and suicidally hedonistic -when he was _saved_ , by the most unlikely of heroes.

Blitzwing stood in the corridor outside the medbay, leaning up against the wall, so tall his helm grazed the ceiling. He nodded when their optics met, folded arms thick and powerful across his large chest.

"'Sup," he greeted.

 

* * *

 

Starscream had learned a lot about the relationships of the lower ranks these past few weeks -far more than he really cared to know. There was an interesting variety to their lifestyles, and having spent the entirety of his pre-war life in the company of seekers, and a vast majority of his at-war life _still_ in that same company, he hadn't witnessed much outside that.

It turned out Blitzwing wasn't a 'commitment guy' -by his own phrasing- but that he and Astrotrain had a 'thing' together anyway. He didn't elaborate much on what this 'thing' was, but it meant he and Astrotrain were raising their new-spark together.

"Conjunx's?" Starscream guessed during the painstakingly sedate stroll to Blitzwing's quarters.

"No." The triplechanger chuckled.

"Amicas then?"

This time Blitzwing shrugged. "Maybe. Like I said, ain't really for commitment."

"You're 'committing' to raising a new-spark." Starscream pointed out.

"It's different."

Starscream didn't see how it was, but to each their own. Whatever the 'thing' Blitzwing and Astrotrain had, it was open, and from what Starscream could tell, unromantic? Blitzwing wasn't forthcoming in explaining it, but they did care about each other. They just didn't want to 'frag' each other all that much.

"But you do?"

"When we're charged." Blitzwing laughed. "But one new-spark is about all the two of us can handle."

"You don't want one of your own?"

"Astro's bitlet _is_ my bitlet." Blitzwing grunted, and slapped the access panel for his quarters. "He said you were good. I wanted to see."

"To sate your curiosity?"

"Hey, I want a frag, _you_ want to _be_ fragged." Blitzwing was fairly blasé about it all. "No strings attached. No spark-splitting. It doesn't break any rules."

Starscream had to agree that it really didn't.

It was odd going into this without the end goal of splitting his spark, to think that the natural conclusion of the encounter was an overload. It put unexpected pressure on him, both to get himself off _and_ Blitzwing. Would he be expected to be more active? To know what he was doing? He'd gotten used to just lying there...

Blitzwing didn't let him worry about much of that for long, pressing him against the wall and dipping down to lick up the side of his neck. Starscream twisted to the side to let him, hands falling to the triplechanger's thick waist. Blitzwing took one of his hands and guided it lower, to a searing codpiece. He rubbed Blitzwing through the panel and it folded apart under his hand. He flinched when the head of an eager spike bumped the heel of his hand.

Blitzwing pressed their fronts together and ground into his hand, rubbing himself to hardness. He kissed up Starscream's neck and breathed heavily against his audial. "You mind?"

His hand fell to Starscream's shoulder and applied pressure, and just like that Starscream was on his knees, floor hard and cold. Blitzwing leant over Starscream, forearm braced on the wall above his head, knee bent to cage him in. His big hand palmed one of Starscream's wings, the breadth of splayed fingers enough to cover the entire thing. Fingers rubbed teasingly at the tip, sending sparks of arousal straight to Starscream's groin. Blitzwing griped the wing's edge and drew him closer.

From what Starscream could remember of it, Astrotrain's spike has been of a size with Blizwing's, though this one was somewhat shorter and thicker, a polished tip and rounded ridges. It felt smooth and silky in his grip. 

He opened his mouth and hesitated.

"Go on." Blitzwing urged, hand between his shoulders, thumb stroking the base of his neck. "Take your time..."

Oral lubricant building in his mouth, Starscream swallowed and took the bulbous tip into his mouth. It was tangy but clean, a unique taste he'd probably never forget. His tongue swept over the weeping tip and a burst of flavour washed over his tongue. Transfluid tasted metallic, like a somewhat sweet and sour take on energon. For a moment he let the tip of the spike rest on his tongue, breathing through his olfactory as he assessed how best to do this without choking. Or worse, making a fool of himself.

"Done this before?" Blitzwing asked, watching past his own bulky armour.

Spike in his mouth, Starscream shook his head, lifting a hand to Blitzwing's thick shaft to hold the spike steady as he sucked the tip and licked at the ridges and sensors around the large appendage. It continued to stiffen to marble hardness at he worked, sliding his lips up and down the length, watching Blitzwing through shuttered optics as the triplechanger bit his bottom lip to repress sighs.

Starscream focused on the tip again, lapping with a slick tongue and sucking delicately on the sensor rich tip until Blitzwing grunted, adjusted his footing, and took Starscream's head in one massive hand to tilt it back.

Starscream brought his hands up and caught the larger mech's thighs to brace himself when Blitzwing began to take his pleasure, setting a pace. He moved shallowly at first, just sliding his length through Starscream's mouth until the tip bumped the back of his intake.

He adjusted Starscream's head again, tipping it further back and opening up his throat. And began slid into it.

Starscream shut his optics tightly, repressing a cough- his frame's automatic response to a blocked airway. He opened his vents instead, breathing through them as Blitzwing fed him inch after inch of his thick length, until pelvic plating met Starscream's nose.

Blitzwing held for a moment, then began to grind, little circles that disturbed the delicate lining of Starscream's throat. Prevented from swallowing, oral lubricant built and began to escape the corners of Starscream's mouth. He whined.

"Wanna swallow it?" Blitzwing asked, deep voice static filled and breaking.

Starscream nodded as best he could and Blitzwing began to move a little faster, a little harsher, bumping Starscream's nose with his pelvic plating and having to haul him back by the wing to keep from knocking him onto his aft.

All too soon Blitzwing tensed, his spike twitching, and Starscream felt the first warm trickles of viscous transfluid spilling down his throat and into his tank. He moaned, licking at the underside of Blitzwing's spike as the triplechanger began to pull out, one last globule of pearlescent fluid pulsing over Starscream's tongue.

Starscream let it linger there for a moment, then swallowed heavily.

Blitzwing stood in front of him, somewhat in awe as he rubbed at his softened, but not yet depressurised spike.

"Thanks," He murmured, "I needed that."

He nodded to the berth, and a pulse of excitement rushed through Starscream at the reassurance that they were far from finished. "Just gimme a minute." Blitzwing gestured to his spike.

Starscream wiped the lubricant from his mouth with the back of his hand and climbed onto the berth, damp panel snapping back, valve wet and flexing, ready for the long day -and night- ahead of them.

"Take your time." He purred.

 

* * *

 

Blitzwing was a lifesaver. Possibly literally.

It was much easier sating certain urges with a consistent (casual) partner, someone clued in enough to know his awkward attempts at striking up a conversation were really just a polite lead up to an interface. Blitzwing was still something of a jerk though, so of course he smirked teased and played dumb until Starscream kicked out his knees and shoved him to the berth.

And before he knew it, Hook was giving him a cautious all clear. His spark was functioning normally, or at least, the readouts indicated it was. Starscream made sure to keep Blitzwing sweet though, because until this protocol issue was dealt with properly he would be needing him again.

Much to Blitzwing's delight.

There were still no shortages in Decepticons waiting for their chance at sirehood, and all of them seemed to have heard the news of his All Clear within minutes of he himself hearing it. The pressure was on him not to dawdle in making a decision. After this first trial attempt there was still going to be an excessively long wait before Hook was happy to let him try again.

Things would be moving slow, at least until they were all sure he wasn't going to self destruct in the middle of an overload.

He made a rush choice, though it shouldn't have been a surprise to find himself in Onslaught's clever clutches. By far the cleverest of the Combaticons, the tactician had very likely spent the last few weeks planning his every move, from being first at the door to greet Starscream into the command centre that afternoon, to oh so subtly mentioning the new polish he'd gotten off of Swindle, and how it was long lasting, weather resistant, and "too good for my old paint," he'd said, dangling it under Starscream's nose.

Starscream barely waited till they were alone before popping his panel.

Onslaught pulled him into his lap in an empty briefing room and had Starscream ride him -thighs burning from the workout, rough hands leaving dents in his aft- until Onslaught threw him over the table and drove into him, table edge jabbing him in the back and wings scrapping the polished metal. Onslaught bent over him with a roar like he was on the battlefield, chest plates opening before Starscream's.

Optics rolling in his helm from the literal 'onslaught' of pleasure, Starscream had almost forgotten to open them. He'd had so much fun with Blitzwing this week the fact that he was doing this to actually create a new-spark had escaped his mind.

Onslaught's spark descending on his own came with the same burning pull he had grown used to. He held himself tense, at first unable to enjoy the feel of Onslaught finishing inside him for the fearing it could all go wrong. He winced, gripping Onslaught's shoulders as the burning pull intensified, but then the pain subsided, his spark cooled, and Onslaught rolled to the side.

Starscream lifted his heavy head and craned his neck to see into his spark chamber.

Thank Primus, he breathed, spying the little speck he'd created. He still had it.

 

* * *

 

With things returning to normal on the medical front -or at least 'normal' for the past few weeks- Starcream was hoping things could normalise elsewhere too.

"I haven't flown in a month." He stood next to Megatron's throne, voice as even as he could keep it following Thundercracker's advice not to 'get his wings in a twist and start yelling'. "If I don't catch at least an hour of air, I swear by Primus, I'll go crazy and kill everyone in their recharge."

Megatron didn't even look up from his datapads. "Twenty minutes, and only with a full guard escort."

Starscream was so ready for Megatron to turn him down flat he didn't actually register what his leader had said. He stamped his pede in a sulk, pre-prepared tantrum at the ready. "It's not like anything's going to happen-!"

"Starscream." Megatron dropped the datapad he'd been reading into his lap, turning tired optics his way. "I said 'yes'."

"You said- oh." Starscream blinked lamely. "Oh! Really?"

"Twenty minutes." Megatron reaffirmed. "Within the security perimeter. And at the first sign of anything amiss, Skywarp teleports you back inside."

"Define 'amiss'?" Starscream cocked a hip. "Autobot? Understandable. A fishing boat-?"

"Yes, even a fishing boat."

Starscream pulled a face. "That's not-!"

"Those are my conditions. Take them or leave them."

Starscream again remembered Thundercracker's advice not to lose his temper and scrunched his face into an angry frown to keep all his frustrations inside, where they wouldn't provoke Megatron into taking back the measly scraps of freedom on offer.

"Yes, _sir_." He said stiffly.

Megatron looked bemused. "Be safe."

" _Be safe_." Starscream mimicked as he walked away, pulling mocking faces. Safe. What a joke. Safe from what? Swimming Autobots? It was like the paranoid old fool thought the humans had mobilised their entire naval forces and had them patrolling the ocean.

 

* * *

 

The tower rose above the ocean and Starscream took a great deep breath of fresh sea air, face upturned and wings open wide to bask in the daytime sun. Finally, a _breeze_. 

He took a step forward, ready to ignite his thrusters and take a leap, when Soundwave's hand fell to his shoulder and stopped him. "Scanning." He intoned.

Starscream looked around the open ocean, a watery desert of nothing. The sky was clear blue, the water was still. "I think it's _clear_ , Soundwave." he grumbled.

Soundwave didn't release him until he was finished with his assessment. "No threats detected. Remain within the perimeter."

"I know." Starscream snarled, and took off.

Thundercracker and Skywarp leapt after him, quickly arranging themselves into a formation either side of him. The Conehead's were joining them for additional backup, but they thankfully didn't fly with them, instead splitting up and heading in various directions, likely checking the far perimeter to compliment Soundwave's scan capabilities.

Not wanting to be distracted by Coneheads, or by Soundwave staring at him like a turbo-hawk, Starscream ascended high into the sky, towards the sun, disappearing in it's glint. Thundercracker sent a disapproving tone over the comms when he flew too far ahead of them.

" _Keep up_." He snapped.

" _You're faster than us_." Skywarp growled back, and then there was a flash of purple as he jumped ahead of him with a warp.

" _Cheating_." Starscream grumbled, but slowed when Skywarp veered closer to redirect him, allowing Thundercracker to cut a corner and regroup.

Starscream dived next, a vertical decent towards the ocean, until Skywarp as making high pitched noises over the comms. He put everything he had into pulling up at the last possible minute, straining his recovered frame and pushing it to the max. His belly grazed a wave and his rear thrusters sent saltwater spraying. He laughed, having too much fun to care when Thundercracker threatened him with a message of ' _we're talking about that when we land'._

Old fuss pots.

He entertained himself by tormenting Soundwave next, flying as close as he could get without pancaking himself against the tower, seeing if he could finally draw a reaction out of the stoic mech. He was about to risk flying _into_ him on purpose out of sheer frustration after two dive bombs didn't make Soundwave so much as flinch, when the roar of returning thrusters distracted him.

Coneheads. He took little notice.

Until the roar become too load and far reaching. Starscream used his targeting computer to focus on the approaching jets, and realised it wasn't _only_  Ramjet, Dirge, and Thrust soaring towards him, just as the first guns started firing.

Ugly earthly coloured camouflage jets were in hot pursuit of the Coneheads. Human piloted. Starscream never seen them so far from land before, and never engaging with his seekers without Autobot back up.

"What-?"

-Was all he got out before Skywarp's hand had his arm in a vice and was teleporting them out of there.

When he blinked again he was safe in the base below, in the flight hanger, the rest of their group left abandoned up top. "Hey!" He pulled himself free and ran back towards to the tower.

"Starscream!" Skywarp yelled with more authoritative disproval that Starscream had ever heard from him before, taking him back and tugging him away. "What are you doing?!"

Starscream couldn't believe his gal. "You left Thundercracker up there!"

"Cuz they're not after Thundercracker, dummy! They're after you!"

"That's-!"

"Good work, Skywarp," Megatron passed them, fusion cannon glowing with an ominous hum as he marched towards the tower himself. "Get him somewhere safe. I'll take care of this."

Unbelievable. As if the hanger wasn't safe enough already.

Starscream tried to go after him, join him above in defending his seekers. He was the air commander for Primus's sake. Those imbeciles were _his_ responsibility. But Skywarp tugged him back again, stronger and taller and capable of teleporting him into 'safe captivity' again even if he could escape his grasp.

The tower doors sealed and rose to the surface. All Starscream could do was watch.

 

* * *

 

"You're not going out there again."

It was, by far, the worst thing Megatron could have said to him. His spark dropped, straight out of it's chamber and into his fuel tank. He felt sick. He stood with hands wrung together, feeling small and useless and _trapped_.

"...You can't mean that."

Megatron didn't answer. He looked exhausted. The humans had had backup, and it seemed Megatron had been right all along in thinking the squishies had been searching for them, for _him_. And now that they had the coordinates for their base there were ships circling from above this very moment, waiting.

They were under siege, confined in their own base by _organics_.

Or at least, he was.

"I have to fly." He protested. "I said I'd go crazy-"

"I know." Megatron stopped him, and pulled a face like his next words tasted like poison. "So you're returning to Cybertron with Shockwave-"

"No!"

"- _and_ your new-sparks, where you will be safe."

"I said no!" Starscream put his thruster down. "You don't have the energy to spare a spacebridge jump anyway!"

"We will _find_ the energy. If it means rationing fuel somewhat more strictly, then we will-"

"It's already rationed!"

"You are going." Megatron barked. "I am _ordering_ you back to Cybertron."

"I'm not going back to that apocalypse!"

"Starscream!" Megatron stood sharply, and it was clear he wasn't budging on this. "Shockwave suggested sedating you and moving you without your knowledge. I can see the logic in that now-"

"Then why didn't you?" Starscream sneered, ready to put up a fight if he tried.

"Because you know this is the right decision."

"A cowards decision." Starscream snapped like a child.

Megatrom ignored that. "Go. Say your goodbyes. We can't waste time."

Starscream said nothing. He threw Megatron one last glower and turned on his heel. He _wasn't_ going to Cybertron. He _wasn't_ saying goodbye to his trine. And he _wasn't_ letting a bunch of filthy meatbags stop him from flying.

 

* * *

 

Two aircraft carriers. He could take them.

Starscream didn't have the patience or the common sense to critically evaluate _why_ he suddenly thought he could singlehandedly defeat what the combined efforts of the Coneheads, Thundercracker, Soundwave _and_ Megatron had been forced to retreat from. If he had, he might have realised what a bad idea it was before rushing in like the one mech airforce he'd always secretly thought of himself as.

He could take them. He could. He was fast and sly and had the element of surprise. He would do this, he would prove himself to Megatron. And he would be allowed to stay.

It was dark now, but he still forwent using the tower to reach the surface, the bulky structure offering the humans too much of a warning. Instead he ejected himself out of one of the airlocks, locking down his armour and sealing his vents before the crash of icy saltwater could flood them, rushing between seams and chilling his protoform.

He ignited his thrusters and they shuttered to ignition to shoot him up and out of the water, breaching the rolling waves beside one of the aircraft carriers with a crash and soaring high into the night sky. He fired his nullrays and a jet exploded on the deck before the humans had even realised what was happening.

Alarms klaxons started wailing so he flew higher, looping back around for another pass. This time the ship's on deck guns were manned and firing, so he had to be quicker, deftly dodging explosions from all directions. He could see the dark shadows of the meatbags running across the decks to reach their aircraft. Most didn't make it.

Really, _this_ was what Megatron had fled from?

Starscream let off a volley of shots until the first aircraft carrier was near barren, littered with wings and cockpits and scorched bodies. Flushed from the high of battle, Starscream flipped into bipedal mode to laugh and fired at the bridge. It went up in a glorious fireball, illuminating the dark waves in amber.

Now for the second ship.

He turned towards it, but hadn't the chance to begin his attack before he was lit up but blinding white light from behind. He spun midair, shielding his optics from a dozen huge spotlights from a _dozen_ more aircraft carriers, each spewing fighter jet into the sky from their runways.

Shooting started again from behind Starscream, and he barely had the time to realise what a terrible mistake he'd made before something from the wrecked ship below him leapt up and bit him in the neck. His hand flew to his neck-cabling, where he found a dart shaped capsule. He tugged it out of his fuel line just as the world began to spin, and saw that it was hollow. And empty.

A sedative, he realised as he began to drop, waves rushing up to meet him.

Clever humans.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !! CHAPTER SPECIFIC WARNINGS !!
> 
> Not a fun and fluffy read so it's all been crammed into one chapter. Captivity, experimentation, paralysis, electrocution, de-humanisation, and a fair few nameless human deaths. Proceed cautiously. Please message me if you require more information.
> 
> Edit: I should add the additional warning that there is mention and threat of something akin to rape, but no follow through.

Starscream knew where he was before he woke -familiar enough with the stench of desperation, failure, and obsession. He was in a laboratory. His olfactory also detected the aroma of roasted coffee beans, so it was a _human_ laboratory at that. Revolting.

His memory banks had suffered some corruption, like some heavy handed fool had tried to rifle through his processor for information and the entire system had shut itself down to protect itself, so he couldn't recall how he'd gotten into this situation. Or for how long he'd been in it. A worrying thought.

What he did know was that there were some sort of suppressant in his fuel lines because it was taking him eons to wake up properly, systems rebooting then giving up halfway and shutting him down again, awareness coming and fading in waves. It felt like some hack had mixed up a bunch of chemicals and just hoped for the best.

He waited for his tactical programming to come back online before attempting to assess the situation any further. He was on his back, staring up at a high ceiling. metal roof. A warehouse somewhere? There was a draft, which meant it wasn't well insulated, perhaps not designed for use as a lab. The lack of controlled conditions implied this was something of a hastily thrown together operation, or an unofficial one. Dodgy. Starscream had run plenty of those of his own in the past.

Fleshies wandered back and forth just inside his peripheral vision, but he couldn't turn his head to follow them. White coats. Clipboards. Pale, panicked faces. And in the distance, lined up against the furthest wall, was a line of bipedal machines. Ugly human-made things. He detected no life signs within them. Drones likely.

So what did they want him for?

No one seemed to want to interact with him, so feigning continued unconsciousness was easy, that was until they all started showing signs of organisation, taking up positions about the room like they themselves were little drones.

" _Roll on three_." A tinny voice blared over the speakers. A fleshling using an amplifier.

On that command the florescent lights shut down and darkness reigned for half a second before eerily cold blue lights buzzed on. Starscream's optics flicked back and forth when he heard the whir of a machine in his left audial.

He went to lurch upright, planning to break the restraints and take the humans by surprise, but the cuffs that held him weren't simple metal. They were powered, designed to pass some sort of immobilising current through his frame to still his motor-functions.

"What- wait!" He screeched, realising he was trapped.  
  
Fleshlings nearby jumped, but it didn't stop the experiment from continuing. The collar around Starscream's neck stopped him from even seeing what was coming for him until it was right over him, a paint-chipped mechanical arm, swinging over his head and descending towards his chest.

His fuel pump drummed like a jack hammer.

"Release me!" He demanded, chest heaving in panic as the cold, lifeless arm touched his chest and engaged magnetic locks against his armour. His spark trilled in terror. "Release me now or you won't live to see another day!" He howled at the fleshlings scurrying off to a safer distance, taking cover behind a sheet of protective glass, goggles pulled over their eyes.

His threats did little. The magnetic locks pulled and began to retract his chest plating, prising his spark chamber open with them, the stasis-locking equipment they had him in made it impossible to override the manual release. To prevent damage, the armour allowed the mechanic arm to expose him to the cold stale environment of the laboratory.

He could see the pink glow of his spark illuminated against the mechanical arm, flashing with it's fast panicked throb.

A second arm came into view then, clumsier, remote controlled by one of the human's behind the protective glass.

" _Spark Separation Experiment attempt number twenty six_." A fleshling spoke over the intercom, mechanical voice echoing about the large space.

Twenty six?! They had done this while he was unconscious?! Rage overwhelmed the fear then. He hissed, snarked, _roared_ , claws twitching in the restrains as he tried to override the current and move them.

But then the second arm come down, armed with some sort of electrical cable. It jabbed forward, zapping his spark with a ten thousand bolts that felt more like a billion tiny knifes. His entire frame convulsed, vocaliser shorting out and optics blinking off to save them from blowing out.

He was left aching to his struts in the aftermath, the smell of smoke and burnt plastic rising from his frame.

" _Spark Separation Experiment attempt twenty six; failure_." The voice droned somewhere.

He wasn't unconscious, not yet, so he could hear the scientists when they mustered the courage to re-approach.

"It wasn't supposed to wake up." A angry voice snapped. "Find Dr Ruiter."

"It spoke." A low solemn voice replied. "It sounded frightened."

"Then I'll turn off it's voice box." The first voice sounded impatient. "It's a fucking robot, Eric. Now go get her!"

"Wait," Starscream wheezed, hearing the clack of heels on the stairs set up to reach him. He felt those same heels walk across the armour of his shoulder, then the disgustingly soft hands of the fleshling on the base of his throat, digging around in the wires, yanking them out. His voice became laced with static. "I-"

It shut off. He mouthed at air, tasting the smoke from his own burnt wires on his glossa.

"For advanced super robots you would have thought they'd programme you with better voices." The fleshling muttered, heels clacking as they walked down again.

Starscream flicked his optics back online, watching as the mechanical arms above drew away. Twenty six times they had electrocuted him like infants playing with a bug zapper. No wonder he felt like scrap.

 

* * *

 

Escape seemed impossible, but Starscream wasn't one to give up lightly. It would be foolish of him to rely on a rescue - it was hardly the Decepticon way, and he and Megatron hadn't parted on good terms. Probably. He remembered racing out to battle those ships, and could well imagine Megatron's reaction to learning he'd been captured- the tables he must have thrown, the screens he must have punched. It would have been quite the show.

In fact, he didn't particularly _want_ to be rescued. Little was more humiliating and he couldn't be sure Megatron's own punishment wouldn't be worse than what the humans were doing to him.

No, he was being ridiculous, he thought with a swell of guilt. The only harm Megatron might do him is accidentally suffocating him with smothering behaviour. He'd never be let out to fly after _this_.

The flight hanger the fleshlings were using as a laboratory didn't look particularly secure. Though the small glimpses he caught through the large hanger doors showed an airfield outside, covered in unmarked jeeps and aircraft.

Not to mention the stasis-locking restraints. The current was secure and constant, and unless he had the key, or could somehow overpower the generator powering them, he was stuck in them.

A shame, because the humans may have been wise enough to remove his external weaponry, but it appeared they had no concept of a subspace or how to get into one, because he still had a fair few nasty surprises in there. He just couldn't reach them.

"-month to get this working!" A angry, gruff fleshling was yelling, voice echoing across the hanger. "And not a single shred of progress to show for it. Is it even the right machine?!"

"It's him. We're sure." An equally annoyed voice answered, the voice of the scientist who had offlined his vocaliser. "Decepticon, 'Star Scream'. We cross compared his spark to those of the Autobots we had on file, and the difference is staggering-"

"Then why aren't my drones powered on?!"

"General Spence, sir," she began in a bored tone, leading him up the stairs so they could stand on Starscream's shoulder and look down through crack their frequent abuse had left in his chest plating because they had _no shame_. Starscream glared, but they didn't even look at his face. "See the pink hue-"

"I don't give a damn about hues." The general barked, stamping his muddy boot against Starscream's armour. "Those drones cost three million a pop and without self sustaining power, they're useless! You're supposed to be some sort of Cybertronian expert, aren't you?! Make it work!"

"It's a simple matter of trial and error." She explained calmly, coldly. "From our understanding this machine can multiple it's life source only when triggered by a surge of power similar in strength and frequency. Another spark, for example. Lacking that, we're making do. We just need to find the right balance."

"Skip the bullshit, Rees. If you need another spark to get it working, I'll find you another spark. As soon as one of those Autobot cowards resurface we'll blast it's legs off and bring it to you."

The scientist, Rees, folded her arms. "I have little evidence to support an Autobot would even be compatible-"

"Won't know until you try it." The general grunted, and began walking across Starscream's armour to the stairs again. "With the Decepticons long gone they're our best shot anyway. In the meantime keep working with the electric shock treatment."

"Yes sir." She muttered, following him down, leaving Starscream with his spark in his throat, tanks clenching.

Another reason he couldn't rely on a rescue.

He'd been left behind.

 

* * *

 

Everyday they electrocuted him, and everyday he fought against restraints that wouldn't let him so much as twitch. He couldn't overload the generator feeding power to the stasis restraints because they were keeping him on minimal fuel rations -jet fuel, not energon, and cold at that, poured directly into his tank, leaving his mouth dry and his internals rolling with nausea.

Plan B was far less satisfying -appealing to the organics greatest weakness; their _humanity_. Dozens of scientists milled about him throughout the day and night, some with clipboards, others with tools, all of them with no personal-space boundaries, poking around under his armour and looking up things they shouldn't.

But without the use of his vocaliser the best he could do to instil sympathy in them was with sad optics.

It had always worked with Megatron.

Most of the scientists avoided looking at his face though, perhaps because it was too recognisable _as_ a face to them. Perhaps because if they really looked at him they would no longer be able to ignore the fact that he was a living being, not one of their lifeless machines.

He spied the name tags, looking for the fleshling 'Eric', so far the only human to have shown any signs of thinking of him as alive. But if 'Eric' was still about he certainly didn't work up top, around Starscream's chest where he could see him.

Starscream knew they were studying and investigating him elsewhere. He could hear them speaking, feel the phantom sensation of tools in his sensitive thrusters or the exposed chill of a piece of armour being removed somewhere.

He found himself missing the leaking, stinking underwater base more and more with each passing day, aching after another failed experiment or out of his mind with boredom and loneliness. Primus, he even missed Megatron.

Until one day there was a break in the routine.

The humans were rushing about, shouting to one another across the hanger and into phones. There was clanking metal and power tools like they were rushing to build something. Starscream looked as far left as his restrained head would let him and saw one of the overall clad humans carrying a large metal ring up a ladder next to him.

It was one of the stasis restraints, he realised. But it wasn't for him.

Some half an hour later and the bustle of activity had yet to die down. The doors to the hangers opened and it was night outside, the tarmac illuminated by spotlights. A huge truck pulled up. Starscream heard it beep as it reversed.

It took them forever to offload whatever it was, and Starscream wondered how the fleshlings ever got _anything_ done when they needed to call in multiple cranes and heavy lifting equipment just to offload a truck.

The crane swung it's load into place, and it was a frame. An Autobot frame.

Jazz.

So much for decent company, frowned, watching as the unconscious Autobot was lowered onto a slab alongside him and locked into stasis cuffs. A pair around the wrists, a pair around the ankles, and one around the neck, just to make them as uncomfortable as possible.

Rees, the grumpy scientistic, climbed the ladder, white coat swooshing behind her as the breeze from the open hanger door carried though, and folded her arms, considering Jazz.

"Open him."

Starscream looked away, the sound of the mechanical arm reminding him all too well of his own traumas. Jazz was opened up for the disgusting little humans to see, and Starscream saw the blue glow from a bright spark reflected against the metal ceiling.

"Readouts are good."

"You have your second spark, Rees!" Starscream recognised the general's crass voice, shouting from down below. "So how's this gonna work? Smash them together like action figures?"

Starscream shuddered.

"We only need the spark. Not the frame itself." Rees corrected, looking down at the captured Autobot. "As soon as the engineers get here we'll remove the spark chamber. It'll be much easier to manoeuvre it for a merge with the original machine's energy source."

She began to climb down the ladder, and Starscream's fuel pump began to pick up.

It was one thing being electrocuted over and over again, but to merge with a disembodied spark?! He was pretty sure there were laws against that?! And what happened when the idiots figured out they needed a _physical_ connection between two mecha to initiate a split, an interface? Would they capture another Autobot? Try and put Jazz back together again? Make their own impromptu equipment and... and...

He blinked coolant from his optics, trying not to panic in front of the gathered fleshlings.

His optics were blurred with the gathered coolant, so it might have just been a figment of his own battered mind that the mechanical arm forever hovering over him swayed on it's own volition.

His imagination, or a breeze from outside. The hanger doors where closing again and the scientists began to move off to wait for the coming engineers.

The mechanical arm moved again.

Starscream held his breath, keeping as quiet as possible.

The air shimmered in front of him.

His optics brightened.

It was a _farce_.

He could _smell_ Mirage's fancy tower mech polish as the Autobot leant over him, ghostly fingers checking his vitals. Starscream's optics flicked to the side, just in time to see a little flicker of light vanish from Jazz's visor where the saboteur was taking a peak of their surroundings. Only a handful of fleshling guards remained now.

Starscream shuddered when he felt warm breath at his audial, "Don't scream." Mirage whispered. "We're getting you out."

As if he _could_ scream! He had no way of communicating to Mirage that he _couldn't_ communicate with his hands still in restraints though.

"I need you to stay still." Mirage said, again a stupid thing to say until a key-card floated above Starscream and slipped into the slot of the stasis collar around his neck.

It was a difficult thing to do, not move after so long, but instead of freeing the rest of him, Mirage disappeared from his side and the floating key card bounced over to Jazz, freeing him first.

Untrustworthy cowardly Aotobots, always thinking the worst. No matter how true it would have been that he'd immediately run for his life leaving them both behind and Jazz at the fleshlings' mercy.

The cuffs were off, and Jazz seemed to slump a little in relief, but he stayed in place on the slab, only his fingers moving.

Starscream realised too late that he was communicating in sign language. He didn't catch much more than '- _together_ -' and '- _signal_ -' because Mirage was back at his side, bringing life back to his limbs, lifting the invisible restrictive weights from his chest. He could have sobbed in relief, but there was no time.

Mirage's key card slotted into his last ankle. The charge stopped flowing through the stasis cuffs. And he was free.

Free and _furious_.

He surged up and sent his foot flying into what he assumed was Mirage's invisible face. The Autobot's cloaking device failed upon impact, and the human guards began yelling, guns up and shooting when a third 'machine' appeared out of nowhere.

Mirage stumbled back from the blow, energon smeared across his nose. Jazz rolled off his own slab for cover, gun drawn out of his subspace to shoot back at the guards, covering Mirage's drive behind a block of monitoring equipment.

Ignoring the firefight and the bullets pinging off his armour, Starscream punched through the generator that had powered the stasis cuffs out of pure spite. The lights when out, but the red targeting beams on the fleshlings guns made them visible enough. Starscream lifted a container full of equipment with a silent roar and threw it at them. Screams and gunshots alike cut off abruptly.

Starscream didn't have long to feel satisfied, as by then the hanger doors were swooping open, trucks speeding in with yet more armed fleshlings. One human stood with his foot on the top of the windshield and a huge gun on his shoulder, ready to shoot him.

Starscream went to duck out of the way, but was far from effective cover.

The human never pulled the trigger though. A huge red and blue semi sideswiped the truck and the gun-welding fleshlings and sent them rolling away. Starscream's tank dropped through his undercarriage when _Optimus Prime_ blared his horn and began to transform. Autobots flooded in behind him, forming a perimeter and tackling the fleshlings still on the tarmac.

Everything was a mess of gunfire and explosions and Starscream couldn't hear a thing the Prime was shouting at him from the hanger entrance.

It didn't matter, surrounded by fleshlings that had tortured him and Autobots who were his enemies, there was no way Starscream staying here.

He made for the hangers second exit, the one the the scientists had left through- cowards who would have fled by now- and kicked away part of the wall, squeezing through sideways to fit. He wasn't staying here with the humans, but he wasn't letting Autobots take him either.

"Starscream!" Prime bellowed, long legs sprinting after him.

Starscream made it into a series of winding tunnels. He skidded around a corner, wishing he could run faster on shaky legs with crossed wires and missing plating. _Fragging fleshlings_ , he thought as he limped. Exit. Exit. There had to be another exit around here somewhere, there had to-

He rounded another corner and slammed straight into a wall of armour, winding himself. He wheezed, but was already up, off the ground, upside down over Megatron's broad shoulder, a strong arm clamped around his thighs.

 _Two months_ he'd been trapped here. Two. _Months_.

And now everyone had decided to rescue him at once?!

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who sent in sparkling names! You were a big help.

Starscream's relief at being swept into Megatron's arms (or slung over his back, if he wanted to get technical about it) was short lived when Prime came barrelling up the corridor after them. Unable to shriek a warning Starscream kicked and slapped Megatron, panic flaring up as he wriggled to free himself. They'd be faster if Megatron didn't carry him.

But Megatron made no attempt at fleeing, instead cursing and adjusting Starscream, dealing an irritated and completely unnecessary smack to this upper thigh to still him, struggling not to drop him on his head. "Blasted seeker-!"

" _Careful_." Starscream couldn't see him but Prime sounded reproachful and disappointed, and not at all surprised to see him. There was nothing about his demeanour that implied he was prepared to fight over anything either. "Be _careful_ with-"

"Don't tell me what to do with my own mechs!" Megatron snarled, gruff and furious, but cannon on standby and uselessly directed at the floor. "I have him."

To prove so he hitched Starscream up his shoulder again, hand tight around the back of his knee and shoulder digging into Starscream's waist. Starscream squirmed again, uncomfortable and confused and not in the least in control of this situation.

Why was Prime here? Why weren't they trying to kill each other? What had _taken them so long!_

"Megatron," Prime's low timbre was a growl now, and he sounded close. Starscream tried to turn to see what was going on, but Megatron's fingers dug into his leg. "You didn't see what they- He's _traumatised_ -"

Unable to howl at the busybody Prime to _shut up_ , Starscream thrashed again. It wasn't true! Damn Prime and damn Megatron because he wasn't traumatised and he wasn't injured and he could walk just fine and he could battle his own way out of his apocalyptic hell hole and he would be telling them both this if he could talk!

"I'm getting him out of here." Megatron said gruffly, holding him tight.

"Not that way-" Prime's voice stopped him.

The room span as Megatron abruptly twirled around, almost dislodging Starscream from his shoulder again. Starscream felt nauseous at the spin and punched Megatron in the back as hard as he could. It didn't even make him stumble.

"We'll meet at the rendezvous-"

"Shut up, Prime! I know the plan!" Megatron bellowed.

Starscream stared between the two leaders as he was carried off, stunned that Megatron would just leave Prime standing. They had an opportunity here. The two of them could take him together. They could-

Megatron stepped through a blasted hole in the side of the corridor he appeared to have made on the way in and it took them into another hanger. The tangy smell of human blood hit Starscream and he gagged, bringing his hands up to his face so he wouldn't purge down Megatron's back. He glimpsed a discarded lab coat lying on the floor. It wasn't so white anymore.

He offlined his optics, the vengeful desire to see the humans who had tortured him good and dead losing out to his fear of purging if he saw anything more gruesome than a blood stain. Stupid sensitive tanks and that disgusting swill they'd been fuelling him with.

He wanted to ask Megatron where they were going, what was happening, and where the others were? His trine? His new-sparks? The Decepticons that had supposedly fled the planet and left him here to the mercy of organics?

Why had it been up to the _Autobots_ to save him?

He kept his gaze fixated on Megatron's back as the larger mech stepped through torn open hanger doors and into the night air, cool and smokey with the battle continuing on the other side of the compound. Trees lay in front of them, the beginnings of a dense forest. The leaves rustled, but there was little wind, and it was only when they were close enough to see the glinting red of optics that Starscream realised it was Astrotrain, waiting for him.

Megatron bent forwards and gravity allowed Starscream to slip down off his shoulder. A big hand tight around his wrist stopped him from getting more than two steps away from Megatron though.

"Carry him back." Megatron ordered, not looking at him.

Starscream dug his claws into the hand around his wrist in protest, pulling as distraught a face as he could manage.

Megatron's brow was creased, his mouth a firm hard line, and optics focused anywhere but on him. He was stern and serious when he looked into Astrotrain's optics and repeated- " _Carry_. Him."

"Yes, sir."

Starscream could have screamed at them both when Astrotrain obeyed and scooped him up, arm around his back, below his wings, and another under his knees. He could _walk_ , he could _fight_ , and he could fragging well fly himself! But he couldn't speak and even if he could, neither of them would have listened to him.

Astrotrain transformed around him expertly, locking Starscream inside the cargo hold of his alt-mode. Starscream slammed himself against the exit hatch but it had already locked and Astrotrain was rising into the sky.

On the ground Megatron's dark silhouette was already striding off to rejoin the battle.

He didn't look back.

 

* * *

 

It was a three hour flight, and from what Starscream could tell through Astrotrain's viewports they were not heading out to sea.

A new location then. Prime had mentioned a rendezvous point. Did that mean more Autobots?

He was going to have to wait until they arrived to find out because Astrotrain certainly wasn't speaking to him. The entire journey was made in crippling silence, nothing but the hum of Astrotrain's large engines and Starscream's own wet sniffs -his optics were itchy and irritated, that was all.

He supposed Astrotrain was about as angry with him as Megatron was -if it was even possible for ordinary sane mechs to reach the levels of fury Megatron seemed capable of. Perhaps everyone was angry, and that was why no one had come for him sooner. 'Let him suffer' they must have said, that would teach him to go running off like some one-seeker-airforce, thinking he could save the day.

He had curled himself into a defeated ball at the back of Astrotrain's cargo hold by the time they finally landed, his face wet and arms tight around his chest,futilely trying to push his chest armour back together after the human's experiments had bent it out of shape to preserve what tattered dignity he still had left to lose.

Astrotrain's hatch opened. Starscream prepared a defiant scowl for whoever was brave enough to approach him.

White and red armour, medic symbols, and a face even grumpier than Megatron's -Ratchet poked his head in the cargo hold. He took one look at Starscream curled in his ball at the back of the hold, sighed, then patted Astrotrain's roof like the pair of them were old friends.

"I don't have time for this." He lamented. "He's not moving big guy, tip him out."

Starscream was _not_ suffering that indignity. He stood up, hissing wordlessly through his teeth, every curse word he knew flashing through his processor as he awkwardly stomped his way to the hatch where Ratchet was waiting.

"Unusually quiet." Ratchet commented.

Starscream tilted his head back and jabbed a finger at the mess the human scientists had made of his vocaliser during his stay with them. Ratchet's harsh blue optics softened. He reached around Starscream's back to place a hand behind him to guide him out. Starscream flinched away.

"Sorry," Ratchet apologised, gruff but genuine, and held his hands up, presumably to prove he planned to keep them to himself. "Come on. Let's get you checked out. Gotta lot of mechs waiting to see you."

Starscream's arms tightened around his chest, his wings trembling and low. He didn't want anyone to see him like this. No one more than necessary.

Ratchet seemed to realise what the reason for his hesitation was. He made an exhausted noise -that didn't feel _entirely_ directed towards Starscream- and disappeared out of the hatch again. "Wait there!" He ordered.

Starscream did, listening to the late night bustle of what sounded like a busy Autobot base. Wheels on tarmac and revving, and... a jet engine or two? He could hear hushed voices and definitely recognised the sound of Ratchet's harsh voice telling someone to "clear off, you're going to crowd the poor kid!"

Starscream poked his head out around the frame of the hatch and caught a glimpse of the dark figures waiting some distance away. Most had wings. He thought he recognised Decepticons...

He ducked back into the shuttle, doubly keen to remain hidden now.

Ratchet was a stubborn Autobot though, and before long he was stepping back into Astrotrain, the tarmac behind him now clear of nosy onlookers. He also held an insulation sheet in his hands. He held it up. Starscream studied how clean it was before he turned, letting the medic lay it across his shoulders and wings and wrapping it around his front, effectively hiding the crack in his chest plating spilling pink light from his spark.

He nodded his thanks and let himself be led out of Astrotrain.

He heard the large mech transform behind them once they were out, and Starscream glanced over a sheet-clad wing to see the large triple-changer awkwardly lift his hand in a wave.

The tight feeling in Starscream's chest eased off. Maybe he wasn't so angry after all. Perhaps just... worried.

He followed Ratchet, taking time to consider his new surroundings.

He had been brought to what appeared to be an airfield in a much colder part of the country. There were trees and snow topped mountains in the distance, and weeds growing out of the tarmac under his pedes. Huge temporary structures had been erected all around him, large tents and tin hangers. There was the occasional non-sentient car parked around, which implied the presence of fleshlings, but the makes and models were civilian, not the sort of unmarked armed vehicle he had seen during his captivity.

Ratchet brought him to a large white tent with a red cross similar to the one on his own armour, clearly a temporary medbay.

"In here." He pulled aside the flap and let Starscream step in first, and despite Starscream's desire for privacy, it was already occupied, four full grown mechs crammed into the small space together.

His spark swelled.

Thundercracker and Skywarp.

And two other Autobots, but who cared about them.

Those same Autobots nearly had their heads taken clean off their shoulders when Skywarp was unable to contain himself and shot forwards without regard for who his wings could slice through to fling his arms around Starscream, crushing him to his chest.

Starscream wanted to save face and shove him off, tell Skywarp to get a grip, but he couldn't speak, and his throat had seized up anyway, and it was all he could do not to simply collapse into Skywarp's strong arms and sob.

He had _some_ self control though, so he simply sniffed, and squeezed back. Briefly.

Ratchet was pulling them apart fairly quickly anyway, and to Starscream's surprise Skywarp didn't try to punch the medic for inferring in their reunion. Thundercracker slipped in for his own quick hug but Ratchet was determined to check him over before letting any of them get carried away with long-winded emotional reunions.

"You can cuddle him after." Ratchet barked, annoyed. "He needs repairs before he needs fussing over."

The medic slapped the top of the temporary medical berth set up for him to climb up. Starscream hesitated before it, reminded all too well of the weeks he'd spend horizontal, trapped, staring at the ceiling and unable to move.

"Does he have to lie down?" Skywarp, always the most perceptive, protested on his behalf.

Ratchet looked up from his equipment, and he must have seen something in Starscream's expression that made him feel extra lenient today.

"...No." He decided. "Just sit, Starscream."

Starscream did, holding his head high so the medic could see the mess of wires torn from his vocaliser.

"Let's get this working, then we can worry about everything else." Ratchet muttered, hands quick and fast. Starscream swallowed as he felt wires re-connect and his throat jump nervously. He breathed out.

"Well? Say ' _ah_ '." Ratchet prompted, arching a brow when Starscream couldn't think of what to say to test it.

" _Ah_." It came out as a static-laced croak.

"Good," Ratchet offered him a wry smirk. "I'm going to run a full diagnostic on your spark, and First Aid and Wheeljack here are going to start putting your legs back together."

Starscream gave his legs a glance, remembering the ghostly sensation of engineers working on them. He frowned at the mismatched wiring and missing armour.

"You have replacement armour?" He asked scratchily, reluctant to walk around in _Autobot_ shin pads. Yuck. 

"Be surprised what I find lying around." Wheeljack's head finials lit up.

Starscream looked between the Autobots getting ready to work on him, and his trine watching behind them. Thundercracker gave him an encouraging nod, as if to say it was safe, as if they could all trust one another.

Well, it was better than trusting organics.

 

* * *

 

He took a shower next, but despite the vast improvement in his physical condition, he was even more miserable than he had been when he'd first arrived.

Ratchet had done a good job fixing him up, making everything as it should have been. _Too_ good a job, because that had also meant reactivating previously deactivated pain receptors, and Starscream was now incredibly aware of how much he ached.

Everywhere.

To make things even more unpleasant the sadistic medic had forced him to purge, hitting the override on his fuel tanks so he had to spent twenty continuous minutes doubled over, throat burning and gut lurching, as he brought up all the suspect fuel the humans had been forcing into him.

"Full of impurities." Ratchet had peered over the rim of the bucket Starscream's head was buried in and wrinkled his nose. "Get it all up, Starscream." He'd joined Thundercracker in patting his back. "You'll feel better for it."

Better his aft, he thought, stood under the solvent spray between Thundercracker and Skywarp, his head resting on Thundercracker's shoulder as he quickly lost the energy and willpower to hold it any higher. He wanted to curl up with them, in their berth in the air barracks of the their base, and never move ever again.

But there were no air barracks here. And there certainly wasn't a berth with pillows and sheets that smelt like them.

"Where are we?" He muttered into Thundercracker's warm neck.

"A safe place." Thundercracker told him, hands stroking up and down his wings as Skywarp washed his back. "Safe for Earth, I mean."

"Thought you'd left me." Starscream whispered numbly.

"No." Thundercracker's mouth brushed his helm, holding him. "No sweetspark. How could we ever leave you?"

"We had to abandon the base," Skywarp explained. "But when we heard the Autobots had fled the Ark-"

Starscream head snapped up, feeling suddenly alert. "What?"

"Fleshlings." Skywarp explained, and used the opportunity of Starscream facing him to scrub at his face with the wash cloth. Starscream tried to escape, but Thundercracker wouldn't let him.

"Warp!"

"You had coolant all over your cheeks!" Skywarp protested, and Starscream flushed at the reminder of his brief moment of overwhelming despair.

"Anyway," Skywarp continued, ignoring the blush. "The meatbags turned against the Bots too. So Megatron and Prime agreed to join forces. Fight the same enemy."

"We're not fighting the fleshlings though, Warp." Thundercracker pointed out gently.

"We should. Should kill them all."

"We're going back to Cybertron." Thundercracker explained.

"' _We're_ ',"Starscream looked between them. "All of us? How?"

"Autobots have fuel stockpiled, enough to get the _Ark_ back home as soon as they've fixed it."

"We're returning home in the _Ark_?" Starscream wondered if it'd really be so bad staying here, if the alternative was a nice long awkward voyage on the Autobot flagship.

"Well, we are." Skywarp pointed between himself and Thundercracker. "You might be getting shoved through a space bridge before morning. Depends on what Megatron says when he gets back from squishing squishies."

Wonderful.

"You wouldn't be going alone though." Thundercracker smiled, arms around him tightening briefly.

"Huh?"

Skywarp laughed, "Oh yeah. There are a few new Decepticons you need to meet."

 

* * *

 

It would have been simpler to take Starscream into the big hanger they had been using as communal living quarters so he could meet 'everyone' at once, but Starscream wasn't ready to face them all just yet (plus, whatever Autobots who might loitering around after their comrades had left to dismantle the hellish human operation he'd just be rescued from).

So instead the 'newcomers' were brought to him in the medical tent, Astrotrain too eager to be anyone but the first to see him, with an awkward but proud Blitzwing following behind.

Astrotrain was carrying something.

No.

Some _one_.

Starscream sat up, spark jumping into his throat. "Is that-?"

Astrotrain lowered his arms so Starscream could see the bundle of armour nestled in them. Huge red optics blinked up at him, and Starscream's spark throbbed when it recognised the essence at the bitlet's core. His sparkling. The sparkling he had made for them.

"Her designation is Superstar." Astortrain announced proudly.

Starscream's previously genuine smile became strained. "Superstar." He repeated as diplomatically as he could.

"Yeah." Astrotrain and Blitzwing smiled at one another. "We named her after you."

"I see." Starscream peered down at her little face again. At least she was aesthetically pleasing to look at. Scrapper and his gestalt had done a rather good job with the protoforms.

"She has your nose." Blitzwing felt the need to point out, reaching around and poking his poor daughter on said feature, causing the little scrap to scrunch her face up and start _screaming_.

"And your vocaliser!" Skywarp shouted over the growing racket with a grin and two thumbs up. "They all do in fact!"

"All?" Starscream's spark skipped a beat. "They're _all_ in their protoforms?"

"Starscream," Thundecracker said gently, "It's been two months."

Two months was a lot of time in the development of a sparkling, Starscream realised.

 

* * *

   
Resonance and Thesis were Soundwave and Shockwave's respective sparklings.

Resonance was a cassette, and small enough to fit in Starscream's palm. He had soft red optics that Starscream couldn't stop staring into, and the sweetest face. He was quiet and calm. The best sort of sparkling in Starscream's opinion. Definitely Soundwave's offspring.

But Starscream didn't think he'd ever seen a happier, louder, more active sparkling than Thesis.

"You're _sure_ this one is yours." Starscream asked Shockwave, squinting suspiciously when Thesis was placed into his lap for 'inspection' and proceeded to laugh and cling to him smiling. "You didn't mix them up with Astrotrain, did you?"

"Thesis is my progeny." Shockwave said firmly. "Their processing function far outperforms the other new sparks."

Starscream rolled his optics, prising little fingers out of his turbines and away from his sensitive chest plating. "Well, they're very handsome."

"Their appearance is irrelevant to me." Shockwave reached to take his sparkling back. "Which is why I chose to emulate _your_ colour scheme, since it matters to you."

Starscream looked at the blue sparkling - _sky_ blue, his blue, blue from head to toe- and nodded, biting his tongue. "Lovely. We won't ever clash."

Motormaster had named _his_ sparkling Road Rage, because he had no sense of subtlety.

Starscream wasn't supposed to pick favourites, but Road Rage was Starscream's by sheer virtue of being such a complete and utter lunatic, and at such a young age too. Motormaster didn't so much as get to _bring_ his sparking in as come racing into the medical tent after him. The little terror on wheels zoomed through the tent flap, did three circuits, crashed into every piece of equipment it was possible to crash into, ran over Skywarp's pede, and it was only when bodily tackled by his sire that he was finally stopped.

Motormaster wrestled the still revving truck into his arms and held him aloft for Starscream's wide optic'd inspection.

"Pretty neat, ain't he?"

"Just... fascinating." Starscream agreed.

Swindle had named his sparkling Bail Out -typical- but Starscream was going to have to wait for another time to meet her. Swindle was reluctant to explain why, but when Onslaught came in to introduce his sparkling, he heavily implied Swindle might have temporarily lost custody of her during a card game with the Autobot twins. 

"Chose some premium sires, didn't you." Thundercracker muttered to him under his breath.

Onslaught, at least, was a very attentive sire, and seemed to have planned his sparkling's -Counter Strike- entire life out for him. As Onslaught spoke, Counter Strike sat in Thundercracker's lap and stared between his carrier and 'uncles' with a vacant expression on his face, oblivious to his sire's proud speech about how clever and brilliant and resourceful his sparkling was.

Thundercracker wiped a bit of dribble way from the sparkling's open mouth, shaking his helm. "I can see he inherited Starscream's brilliant mind."

Onslaught was so busy beaming in pride that he didn't notice Starscream kick Thundercracker resentfully.

It was the Construction's sparkling, Chugger, who he met last. He rose off the berth when Scrapper carried her in. She was painted in the same green and purple as all his sires, her spark housed in a bigger stronger frame than the other sparklings had been. She was built of the best materials the Constructicons could find. Starscream touched her cheek tentatively, spark pulsing a greeting.

She pulsed back, weaker than the other sparklings had been.

"Is she alright?"

"Fine." Scrapper glanced back at the rest of his gestalt lingering by the tent flaps, watching. "A little low on energy sometimes. Takes a lot of naps, but she's better than Astrotrain's sparkling, screaming all the time."

Red optics fluttered open and stared at him. Starscream found himself smiling at her. "I'm glad she's okay, even if she's..."

"We wouldn't change a thing about her." Scrapper said firmly, and Starscream could tell his conviction came from a powerful bond of parental love, rather than Scrapper trying to reassure him over the whole disaster that had been Chugger's split into creation.

She was whole and loved, and that was enough.

And they all were. And they were all _different_. Seven new sparks he had made and not one of them the same. He had done that. His spark had done that.

"I want to make more." He decided when he was alone with this trine again.

Skywarp made a pained noise and covered his face.

"Not right now!" Starscream snapped, because _obviously_. His spark was going to need some recovery. _Real_ recovery. But after that...?

"Later." He elaborated. "Back on Cybertron probably. Where I'm sure there'll be _plenty_ more sires awaiting my unique talents. Some among the Autobots too."

It was Thundercracker who groaned this time, so loudly that Ratchet burst through the tent flaps with a wrench at the ready, fearing a 'bear attack'.

"Cut that out." He snapped at them like a grumpy grand-creator. "And go to recharge you three. It's well past midnight."

Starscream had been planning on waiting until the rest of the Autobots arrived back with Prime and... Megatron, before letting himself relax enough for recharge, but it seemed he'd be waiting a while. And he hadn't had real rest in weeks.

He wasn't in Thundercracker and Skywarp's berth in the air barracks, but his trine were still wrapped tight around him, warm and familiar, so it was the next best thing.

He didn't know what Megatron was going to say to him when they finally spoke, but he finally knew what _he_ wanted to tell _him_.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This last chapter was getting rather big so as a birthday present to myself, I decided to split it into two! This, and an epilogue.

The white repair tent did little to block out the morning sun. Starscream's optics stung, blinded by it.

His trine had laid by his side throughout the night, tossing and turning, their hands gripping him -clinging to his wings, fingers in his more generous armour seams- tightening reflexively every time he moved. There was still some nervous energy to them, like they feared they might still lose him.

Starscream doubted any of them had clocked much recharge time.

They seemed relatively peaceful now, he noted, lifted his head to glimpse their expressions. They were finally recharging at least.

They were also half draped on top of him, Thundercracker's cheek pressed to his wing and Skywarp's leg thrown over his waist. Ordinarily he would have shoved them off and made a snide comment about their weight, but he'd rather they didn't wake just yet.

He managed to wriggle his way out between them, tricking a recharging Skywarp into thinking his wing had become one of Ratchet's tools. Outside the sky was cloudless and the air breezy. Starscream tilted his head up towards the sun, shuttering his optics against it's glare and savouring it's heat across his plating. Perfect weather for flying.

He began testing his hydraulics and running his engines. No one was around. They've never know he'd gone on a sneaky morning flight-

"Don't even think about it."

Starscream's sinking depression at being caught so soon was nothing compared to the swoop of his fuel tank at the sound of Megatron's voice. He whirled around on a heel thruster, wings picking up high, as Megatron's thunking footsteps carried him around the side of the tent.

His engines were audible even at this distance, slow and laboured from what must have been a long night. He _wasn't_ covered in blood, as Starscream had half expected him to be, and looked less frightening for it.

Megatron stopped three steps from him and folded his arms, mouth set into it's ever-present frown. Starscream fisted his own hands at his sides, unsure what to do with them, struggling to decide between meek and apologetic, or defiant and argumentative.

And so much for his morning flight. He looked away, shifted his footing, digging his pedes into the ground.

"How long have you been lurking behind that tent, waiting to ambush me on the way out?"

"Two hours." Megatron didn't hesitate.

Starscream's next clever taunt caught in his throat at such unexpected honesty.

"...I expect you're furious with me."

"Very." Megatron agreed, though he didn't sound like he was.

Starscream pouted down at the dirt he'd dug up. "If you're expecting an apology-"

"I know better than to expect the impossible."

Starscream snapped his head up, glaring.

"There are things we should discuss." Megatron said before he could latch onto that backhanded comment and run with it. He lifted a huge hand, beckoning. "Come."

Starscream's fuel pump was in his throat. He hadn't expected to be alone with Megatron so soon. There were a great many things he wanted to say- about this team up with the Autobots, and returning to Cybertron, and these rumoured plans to shove him through a space bridge and make him wait for _months_ to be reunited with the rest of the Earth crew.

He followed Megatron, not into another tent, but to the edge of their temporary camp, away from the tents and structures and into the tall fir trees. Starscream brushed the disgusting, ticklish branches away from his armour, but they sprung back and whipped his across the face.

" _Must_ we do this here?!"

"I wanted some privacy." Megatron said, and took a seat on a protruding moss covered rock between the trees, legs almost up to his chest. He patted the remaining space next to him, but Starscream remained standing, cocking a hip and looking down his nose at him.

"The Autobot medic refused to allow me access to your tent, or else I would have come to see you as soon as I returned." Megatron began.

"All hyped up and covered in blood, I bet." Starscream arched a brow at Megatron's shining armour. The mech wasn't prone to using solvent showers unless he really  _needed_ to shower.

Megatron looked aside. "I suppose he was acting in your best interests..."

"Autobots?" Starscream sneered. "Really? You were that desperate you went to the Autobots?"

"It wasn't a matter of desperation." Megatron's gaze darkened. "Nor did _I_ go to them. Prime came crawling to _me_."

"And just _begged_ you to let him help rescue your Air Commander, did he?"

"We agreed to work together. Mutually."

"And now what?" Starscream looked back at their temporary camp between the trees. "You called a truce and that's that? War's over?"

"Hardly." Megatron snorted. "Prime's a fool if he think's this'll last. The most we can hope for is to survive the flight back to Cybertron together."

"And who do you think will suffer more when this all falls through?" Starscream tapped a pede. "The Autobots? With their fuel, and their _un-sunked_ warship, and their human allies -few as they may be these days?"

"Thank you, Starscream." Megatron growled through his teeth. "I am aware of the situation."

"Unless we act to strengthen your half-aft'd little truce soon we'll be surrounded by enemies on all sides. Prime will protect his own above us. We have to give them something in return."

Megatron's head snapped up, jaw stiff. "No-"

"There's no better way to secure the Autobots' resources than-!"

"No." Megatron stood abruptly.

Starscream stepped back. "I haven't even-"

"You don't need to say it." Megatron thrust a digit at him. "I know that Look." He twirled his finger around Starscream's twisted face. "You bringing more sparklings into this isn't going to help-"

"It will if they're theirs! It'll earn the Autobots' loyalty-!"

"You want to bring innocent lives into _this_?!" Megatron threw up his arms. "On a hostile planet filled to the brim with enemies, regardless of their affiliation-"

"The other sparklings are fine. I don't see why-?"

"Do you have an ounce of foresight in that malfunction you call a processor?" Megatron started to pace furiously, trampling the greenery underfoot. "The other sparklings are Decepticons through and through. They are _ours_. They belong with _us_. You will not be able to say the same for a sparkling with Autobot coding. If this truce falls through -which if experience tells us anything, it will- they will take that sparkling away and you will never see it again."

Starscream ignored the clench of his spark. "That's... I never intended to raise any of these sparklings myself anyway-"

"Why?" Megatron demanded, stopping in his tracks.

Starscream felt taken aback, "Because! Because they're not mine. I sparked them but I didn't carry them, I didn't name them. I-"

"But you want to."

Starscream looked at Megatron, startled. "What are you doddering on about, you great big-"

"' _Everyone wants a sparkling_ '." Megatron began to lower himself back down to his rock. "That is what you told me before all this mess happened. When you were trying to provoke me into sleeping with you."

Starscream's felt his face ignite with embarrassment. "I wasn't- I don't need to _provoke_ \- I-"

"You would make a good parent." Megatron sighed, leaning back to observe him better. "Not just a good carrier, but a good parent."

Starscream felt awkward and had to look away.

"You've gotten sentimental." He sneered like he was disgusted. "And your psychological analysis, which is _wrong_ by the way, isn't going to help us with this mess. How do you suggest we keep the Autobots on side with nothing to incentivise them with? The only resource we have to offer are sparklings."

"And we _have_ sparklings." Megatron was now smirking somewhat. "What do you think your little mini-me's have been doing for the past month? They're very much like you. Keen to ingratiate themselves."

Starscream's processor glitched trying to imagine Motormaster or Shockwave letting an Autobot anywhere near their little ones. "Really?"

"It's a work in progress." Megatron shrugged lightly. "But they have a way of working themselves into even the hardiest of sparks."

"Even Prime's?" Starscream arched a brow, thinking of tiny Road Rage running over the Autobot leader's giant pedes.

"Especially Prime."

 

* * *

 

He and Megatron managed to come to an agreement, perhaps for the first time in years. If the truce lasted the _Ark's_ repairs _and_ the trip to Cybertron, Starscream would offer his carrier services to the Autobots.

"That's months away." Starscream still complained though, as he sprawled across Megatron's berth in the rusty old flight hanger they were using as communal barracks. Starscream had laughed his vocaliser into shorting out when he'd learned Megatron was slumming it on a rickety temporary berth set up like the rest of the grunts, in a structure about as well insulated as a dark tin shed.

"You didn't bring anything?" He had asked when he had looked around Megatron's four-by-four section of space for any of his personal belongings.

"There wasn't much time, and my priorities were elsewhere." Megatron responded.

Starscream was willing to guess Megatron's priorities might have revolved around his ridiculous capture, and felt a twinge of guilt.

"You require months of recovery." Megatron growled, glaring down at how comfortable Starscream had made himself on _his_ berth, muddied pedes kicked up and resting on the pillows as he watched mechs come and go, most of them- even Autobots- lifting a hand in greeting, like they were pleased to see him back. The attention was rather flattering. 

"Recovery," he snorted. "I feel better already."

"Don't start this again." Megatron's sigh was long suffering. "Didn't that medic mention anything about your protocols? And your rampaging libido?"

"My libido is not _rampaging_ , thank you. It's perfectly normally. It's not _my_ fault _you_ closed down for business millennia ago."

Megatron turned to look at him very slowly.

"Unless you'd like to prove otherwise?" Starscream teased, letting his thighs fall apart.

Megatron gave a very aggressive snort and marched from the barracks.

 

* * *

 

Shockwave was needed in the 'laboratory' tent -a place Starscream hadn't known existed but was apparently forbidden from entering, so much so that Prime had placed his twin terrors, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker as guards. Starscream would rather lick the airstrip than go anywhere near them so it was working tragically well. Unfortunately, sparklings were _also_ banned from the area, which meant Starscream rather unexpectedly found himself with his hands full of kicking, wriggling blue sparkling.

He held Shockwave's pride and joy, Thesis, at arms length, cringing. Didn't these things leak?

"Let's see if we can't make you someone else's problem, hmm?" He said sweetly, carrying the sparkling towards the mess hanger.

Sadly there were no mecha suitable for sparkling dumping. Motormaster and his gestalt were in the midst of trying to control Road Rage, and Astrotrain and Blitzwing had become resident pariahs with how often Superstar liked to scream. Starscream knew little about sparkling care, but he knew screaming was contagious and the last thing he wanted to do was add to the racket.

Everyone else present was an Autobot, and there was still a strong divide between factions.

With a sigh at how far he'd fallen -air commander to sparkling sitter nearly overnight- he picked himself up a cube and sat down at a table, Thesis in his lap, easily enough entertained by their own reflection in Starscream's cockpit. They started waving at themselves and babbling.

Starscream was ignoring the awkward pats and smacks Thesis was dealing out to him when Optimus Prime entered the mess. He ducked his head, hoping not to be noticed. But Thesis pushed their face against his cockpit and _licked_ -disgusting thing- and the unpleasant unexpected sensation had Starscream squawking like an alarm.

Thesis squealed with laughter.

"Starscream?" Prime's gentle voice spoke over head.

"Oh great." Starscream glared at the sparkling for condemning them both before turning around with a fixed smile. "Prime. What a surprise."

"You are looking well." Prime invited himself into the seat opposite, optics crinkling at the sight of Thesis bouncing in Starscream's lap. "I see you're reacquainting yourself with your sparklings."

Starscream made a noncommittal noise. "I think I might have preferred them as balls of inanimate energy." He admitted, smirking into Prime's stunned face. "Less mess."

"Yes, well," Prime cleared his vocaliser. "I came to inform you of the good news. Shockwave has re-calibrated the space bridge."

Starscream's spark dropped. "Oh."

Prime's piercing blue optics stared through him. "Megatron has expressed a keen desire to see you as far from this planet as possible, as soon as possible."

This was leading somewhere. Starscream could tell. "And you disagree?" He asked lightly.

"It's not my place to make comment on how he choses to protect his soldiers."

"Except he's not sending me to Cybertron because I'm a 'valuable solider'." Starscream scoffed, brushing Thesis's hand away from his unconsumed cube when the sparkling tried reaching for it. "Which I am, by the way. He's shooing me off because he thinks I'm a liability."

"You're not a liability." Prime said gently, and Starscream was surprised to hear him say that. Perhaps he was trying to recruit him.

In his distraction he took his optics off Thesis, who immediately plunged a tiny fist into the energon cube.

"You're a gift." Prime continued. "I understand Megatron's logic in wanting to remove you from risk, but Cybertron won't necessarily be the safest place for you."

"Safer than _this_ planet." Starscream propped his chin in his fist and smirked, oblivious to the drips of energon falling across his thighs as Thesis brought their sticky handful of energon up to their mouth.

"Not if you were alone there. If something were to happen, a neutral faction were to get wind of your abilities or the existence of your sparklings for instance? We'd be too great a distance away to help."

"Then tell _him_ that, please." Starscream growled, then frowned when he saw the mess Thesis was making. "What on Cybertron-?!"

He caught the sparkling's wrist, but Thesis was already slapping their other sticky hand to Starscream's cockpit, leaving a bright purple handprint in their wake. "Urgh!"

"I can see you have your hands full." Prime began to rise. "But should you and Megatron come to an agreement on this, I would be happy to welcome you aboard the _Ark_ when we are ready to make the voyage back to Cybertron."

"Yeah, I bet you would." Starscream muttered, struggling to both unsubspace a cloth and keep Thesis's sticky handed assault at bay.

 

* * *

 

The space bridge was up and running, and sparklings had been cleaned up and were waiting with Shockwave, ready to go.

So Starscream made himself scarce.

Honestly, what did Prime think the Decepticons were? A democracy? ' _When you and Megatron reach an agreement_ '? The Prime had been fighting Megatron for millions of years and when had they ever come to an agreement? Megatron made the decisions and everyone else obeyed. There were no conversations, no debates.

Only arguments and punishments.

And Starscream knew he was getting shoved through that space bridge whether he liked it or not. Just him and Shockwave and seven sparklings on a half-broken, fuel depleted planet, waiting for months for everyone else to show up.

A month, in the lifetime of a Cybertronian, wasn't a great deal of time, yes. But in Shockwave's company? That was an eternity.

So he hid.

There weren't many places to effectively hide within the perimeter of the temporary camp though. And he wasn't about to venture beyond the security perimeter -not because he was _scared_ of those pathetic humans, but for fear of what Megatron might do if he caught Starscream putting his safety and their species future at risk for 'petty reasons' again.

Which was how he found himself crouched behind one of Ratchet's tool chests in the repair tent.

Five minutes passed beyond his scheduled departure time.

Then the tent flaps whooshed with someone's arrival.

"Starscream you idiot." Megatron snarled. "That's the worst hiding place I've ever seen. I can see your shadow on the outside of the tent!"

"Blast!" Starscream cursed, standing to face him. "I wasn't hiding. I was thinking!"

"An unlikely first." Megatron stabbed a finger at his feet. "Get over here. The sparklings are growing fussy."

"I don't want to go."

Megatron let his helm drop back. "Not this again."

"Yes this again! I'm not going!" Starscream threw a random screw driver at the side of the tent, where it impacted with an unsatisfying ' _thump_ '. "You can't just send me away! I have duties and responsibilities here. You need me now more than ever."

Thick arms folded over a powerful chest. "I think I can manage-"

"The _second_ I step foot through that space bridge you're going to put your big ugly foot in something and before you know it, your precious truce arrangement will be in tatters!"

"And you'll help maintain that truce will you?" Megatron dialled up the sarcasm. "Win over the Autobots with your sunny disposition? Your likeable character?"

"Don't be disgusting. I'll maintain it because they'll _want_ me."

Megatron looked down. His voice dangerously low when he said, "If you're about to tell me the reason you don't want to go to Cybertron is because you won't be getting fragged six ways to Caminus every night-"

"Prime agrees with me." Starscream refused to let the slut-shaming sidetrack him. "He thinks I'll be safer here."

Megatron optic twitched. "...Are you sure I'll be the one to ruin the truce, Starscream? Because you and Prime seem to have your own little strategy for that."

"Don't be jealous."

Megatron's optics flared brighter, but they might as well have flashed _green_. "I'm not jealous, you little twerp! I'm impatient. You're going through the space bridge-!"

"You'll have to haul me through it yourself." Starscream glared. "I'm not going without a fight and I'm not going without you."

Megatron stopped short, and Starscream had to utilise a great deal of self restraint not to cringe. _I'm not going without you_ \- he sounded _insane_.

"Starscream." Megatron's voice was markedly gentler now. "I need you to do this."

"No." Starscream held firm against the compelling stare Megatron was pinning him with.

"For me."

" _No_."

And just like that, Megatron's gaze darkened again. "Fine. Don't go through! But when the humans make another attempt to take you-!"

"-You'll protect me." Starscream interrupted, mouth curved at the corner. "Won't you?"

Megatron's mouth pressed into a harsh thin line. He looked aside with a frustrated noise and then swept out through the tent flap without another word.

As far as Starscream knew, the space bridge was shut down again, and no one went through.

"You better hope they don't find us." Skywarp muttered that evening, running his finger along the edge of his energon cube. "I'm not ready to go through that again."

"I was alone in that Hell for two months." Starscream muttered back, glaring. "So excuse me if I don't want to be alone _again_ on Cybertron."

He looked across the mess, where he could see Megatron having a whispered argument with Prime between the rows of benches, no doubt about him sticking his Autobot nose into business that didn't concern him.

"Besides," he took a drink. "Megatron needs me."

Skywarp snorted a laugh. "Think it might be the other way around personally."

 

* * *

 

The Constructicons were away at the sight of the _Ark_ , lending their invaluable experience as they worked alongside most of the Autobots' own science team. Unfortunately this meant Chugger was in need of a sitter most of the time.

And the go to sitter was _always_ the carrier.

Starscream thought he was sweet, really. He thought _all_ the sparklings he had helped create were endearing little things, fully deserving the attention and love their sire's showered them in, but sparkling sitting? It just really wasn't for Starscream.

"Can I hold them?" The Autobot Beachcomber asked.

Starscream knew an opportunity when he saw one and never let them go without grasping for it with both claws.

"Yes!" He blurted, but so not to sound too eager, quickly added, "but _don't_  drop her."

He passed Chugger over, waited until the Autobot was too distracted cooing and smiling at the little one, and then made a run for it. Not once looking back.

"Would you like to tell me _why_ you left your sparkling with an enemy solder?" Megatron, unsurprisingly, arrived sometime later with Chugger under arm, ready to berate him for it.

They hadn't spoken since their last argument, and Starscream had thought that perhaps they were ignoring one another deliberately. So despite his irritation at being caught shirking duties, he was relieved they were speaking.

"She's not my sparkling." He reminded Megatron. "She's Scrapper's. In fact, she has _six_ sires, pick one of them to bully."

"He is still yours."

"He was a _gift_." Starscream pressed, leaning back when Megatron took Chugger into his palm and thrust the little sparkling at him.

"Do you not care-"

"Of course I care about them!" Starscream snarled before he could make further insinuations. "I made them, didn't I? But I don't want to spend my every waking second surrounded by other mech's sparklings."

Megatron shifted his grip on Chugger and brought her back to his chest. "...I see."

There was a hint of judgment in his tone. "Oh shut up Megatron. When I have a sparkling of my _own_ I will dote over it every second of the cycle. Until then, I'm a free spark. I come for the cuddles, I leave during the tantrums."

"Sounds nice." Megatron arched a brow.

"Go and give that sparkling back to whatever Autobot you tore it away from." He berated with a dismissive wave. "We _want_ them to get attached, remember? It's an incentive."

Megatron grumbled something under his breath as he moved to leave.

"What?" Starscream snapped after him.

"I _said_ , when you have _my_ sparkling you'll be expected to take on the messy work too."

Starscream stared at Megatron's back, and Chugger waving at him from his shoulder, feeling his cheeks warm a little.

 _When_. Not if.

 


	9. Chapter 9 Epilogue

It took some time for the creeping, crawling sensation under his plating to recede completely. He no longer felt the haunting touch of the humans that had experimented on him. His spark no longer felt cold and pained.

He was _warm_ , he was at peace with his own frame again.

And he _really_ wanted a clang.

The problem was that with the communal barracks they were using, if he wanted a casual encounter then he would have to consent to pretty much interfacing in front of the majority of _both_ factions. He didn't have his own space, because he was still stuffed away in Ratchet's repair tent, and the medic refused entry to all but his trine. Apart from Hook and Scrapper, who occasionally came by to share notes on his 'troublesome libido.'

Of course, when it was repaired the _Ark_ would have private quarters, but he could not, _would not_ wait for the ship to be flight capable before releasing some of the pent up tension in his frame. He needed it _now_.

His usual partner, Blitzwing, let him down with a firm no. Too exhausted by his new spark and too enamoured with Astrotrain to stray, even if their relationship had been casual and open before, it appeared to be closing rapidly now.

Asides from Blitzwing, almost every other Decepticon feared Megatron too much to even think of it, and Ratchet, who had forbidden him from 'exerting' himself, appeared to have the same effect on his fellow Autobots.

It was like having contracted a case of cosmic rust. No one wanted to touch him.

He wasn't even going to _use_ his spark? What was everyone's problem?!

Of both factions, there was only one mech who wouldn't fear the consequences of allowing themselves to be seduced by him.

The mech who had created those consequences in the first place.

" _Megatron_?" Starscream whispered, voice low to keep the other occupants of the vast hanger from hearing.

The great dozing mech lying on the temporary berth slab didn't move.

" _Megatron_!" Starscream hissed again, this time shoving a huge shoulder.

Megatron's optics snapped online and he grabbed Starscream's in a flash. He was tugged forward, yanked half over the berth so he was lying directly over Megatron's huge flat chest.

As he saw the confused fog of recharge clear from Megatron's optics, they narrowed instead at the sight of him.

"Starscream." He kept his voice just as low. It vibrated in his chest and passed through Starscream lying awkwardly on top of him. "...What are you doing wandering around this time of-"

"I need your help." Starscream worked his wrist free and began to arrange himself more comfortably since he was already invading Megatron's personal space, and he hadn't been shoved away yet.

Megatron's optics flared at his wiggling about. The berth creaked as he sat up with a start when Starscream straddled his hips. "Starscream-!"

"I can be quiet." Starscream hushed him, hands on his chest, pushing him back down so he could lean over him. He slipped a digit under the insulation sheet, lifting it teasingly. "And we can hid3 under these. No one would see-"

Megatron surged up and pushed him off the berth. Starscream stumbled to his feet and hissed through his teeth, frustrated and hurt. " _You frigid_ -!"

Megatron seized his wrist again and began tugging him out of the hanger, ignoring the dozen of optics flicking online at the ruckus, curious heads lifting from pillows.

Megatron hauled him outside, into the night air, and Starscream's turmoiling emotions brought angry coolant to his optics. "Am I really that ugly?!" He demanded as he stumbled, struggling to keep pace. "Do you really hate me that-?"

Megatron pressed him up against the side of the hanger with a sharp clang as his wings hit the tin. Starscream's shock misfired his vocaliser and he stood, staring dumbstruck, as Megatron just breathed and stared at him, pressing him to the wall with an arm across his chest.

Megatron opened his mouth to snarl something, then thought better of it and snapped it shut, looking aside. He clenched a fist and then released it. Starscream stared, hardly daring to breath, waiting for the rejection that was sure to come. 

But Megatron sighed, bringing that massive fist up to Starscream's face with an air of defeat and caution. Starscream leant into the tentative touch to his face, knuckles grazing his cheek.

Megatron leaned in.

Starscream's fuel pump picked up. He titled his head back, raised his chin, so desperate for a kiss, for _affection,_ but Megatron's forehead dropped to his, his optics shuttering. He shook his head. "It's too soon-"

"It's not." Starscream reached for Megatron's face, drawing him in. "I'm fine. I'm fine."

He kissed him, a simple push of lips against lips. Megatron responded softly, but reluctantly, so Starscream kissed him again.

"I thought we'd lost you." Megatron admitted between small kisses, vulnerable and weak, unlike Starscream had ever heard before. He cupped his face and kissed him harder.

"Can't get rid of me that easily." He breathed, cocky and sure.

With a rumble of defeat, Megatron kissed him. Really kissed him, huge hand dwarfing the side of his face as he guided Starscream into it. Starscream tilted his head and opened his mouth, humming happily with every sweep of Megatron's tongue against his. He felt hot and tight, and drew Megatron closer, wanting the larger mech to hitch him up against the wall and take him, ruin him-

"Hey!"

A spotlight blinded them. Starscream tore himself from the kiss, ducking behind Megatron's arm when Ratchet appeared, turning the light on and off rapidly to startle them.

"What the Pit do you think you're doing?!" The medic demanded, light on it's maximum setting as he stamped towards them. Starscream's wings were visible behind Megatron's bulk, making his attempt at hiding rather useless.

"You're supposed to be _resting_ , you little twerp." Ratchet leaned around Megatron to snap. "And _you_." He turned on the warlord. "Are supposed to _know better_!"

"Take care for how you speak to me, _medic_." Megatron began, standing tall.

"Maybe _you_ should take care of how you treat my patients." Ratchet fired right back, flashing his headlights in Megatron's optics, blinding him and forcing him to stumble back. Ratchet reached around, snagged Starscream, and tugged him out.

"You, back to your tent-"

Starscream's optics flared. "I was-!"

"-going _back_ to your _tent_." Ratchet reaffirmed. "Now! Because I'm not repairing your overtaxed systems for the second time in a week just because you wanted to burn off charge with your commanding officer. Go!"

Ratchet was yelling _loudly_. And occupants of the hanger had began to poke their heads out of the doorway. Starscream whirled away and hurried off to obey Ratchet's orders before the medic could shout worse, leaving Megatron to weather the extended version of his rant on his own.

 

* * *

 

The _Ark_ was just days away from repair, Prime reassured everyone. Not much longer now.

But the days were beginning to feel like weeks to Starscream. Ratchet and his trine were doing their level best to keep an optic on him, distrusting regardless of his copious promises not to do anything stupid.

"You've made that promise before." Skywarp snapped, as bored with babysitting him as Starscream was with being babysat.

"You can trust Megatron though," Starscream argued.

"Megatron's emotionally compromised." Thundercracker shook his head. "The last thing anyone needs is you two getting carried away with one another all the way out here. Even _if_ you managed to keep your spark in it's chamber for once, Ratchet said _any_ 'exertion' could shock it."

"When we're on the Ark." Skywarp promised. "And that Autobot medic has all his fancy equipment at his disposal, _then_ you can mess around with Megatron to your spark's content. Okay?"

No, not okay. It was one thing to be frustrated, and another thing entirely to be frustrated _and_ bored. Ratchet had snarled at him to 'use his fingers' if he was that fragging desperate, but it wasn't the same. Overloads were weak and shallow, and he was lonely.

And the most interaction he could get out of Megatron uninterrupted were his forlorn looks across the mess in the evenings.

Just three more days. Just _three more days_.

 

* * *

 

The _Ark_ was flightworthy.

It landed on the airstrip early one morning and then it was all systems go. Starscream stood on the tarmac in the centre of the chaos, watching the Autobots make hasty, but heart-felt goodbyes with their little human pets as Decepticons rushed to load the ship with remaining fuel. They had to move quickly, because the _Ark_ was hardly the most subtle ship to move on such an overpopulated planet and there were hostile humans still searching for them. Searching for him.

"Get inside." Ratchet ordered, giving his aft a shove up the boarding ramp.

The _Ark_ was _orange_. It was bright, the lights were on full, and the bulkheads hummed with the ship's energy. It was a massive contrast to what life had been like aboard the _Nemesis_ , and in the underwater base after that. Starscream shielded his optics from the gleam, wondering how he was going to survive months aboard this nightmare before they arrived back on Cybertron.

He wandered up to the bridge, continuing to watch the hustle and bustle of the factions from the viewport before it was time to leave. The Autobot Perceptor was already there, setting last minute coordinates. He rolled out a chair for Starscream to sit down.

Autobots could be rather polite when you had something they wanted.

Through the viewport, he spied Megatron on the ground, barking orders at underlings of either faction. In his hand he held one of the sparklings. It was Resonance, Starscream realised, looking at how small the little cassette was in Megatron's huge black palm. His spark throbbed and he felt a little softer, and a little ... _sentimental_ at the thought of Megatron holding their own sparkling like that.

If they had a sparkling.

He got out of the chair and rapped his knuckles against the viewport, fast and hard, until Megatron frowned and glanced up and saw him. Starscream's chest felt tight as he waved awkwardly, gesturing for Megatron to come up.

Megatron looked around, then down at Resonance helplessly.

Starscream waved again, insistent. Everyone was busy, and Primus-knew when that dictator of a medic would actually be willing to clear him for any activity more vigorous than a light stroll. This might be their only chance for _weeks_.

Won over, he watched Megatron pass the sparkling over to Ramjet and start barking lingering orders at whoever was nearby as he began heading towards the boarding ram. Starscream pressed his hands against the glass and watched, feeling giddy. When Megatron moved out of sight he pushed away from the viewport and began rushing back towards the ramp himself.

"Where are you going, Starscream?" Perceptor called after him, suspicious, and rightly so.

"To look _around_!" Starscream sneered, "What are you, my creator?!"

He slipped out before Perceptor could live up to his designation and work out what could have him so excited, hurrying back down the security stairs to meet Megatron at the ramp. He stopped just out of sight of those at it's bottom, still loading the fuel and supplies into the cargo hold, and beckoned Megatron away from the ramp with a curled finger.

Megatron came to him, breathed his name, and the next thing he knew he was pressed up against the hideous orange bulkhead, head back and fingers in Megatron's thick armour seams, a thigh wedged up between his own, a huge hand cupping his turbine and another under his aft, massaging the generous armour. Starscream looped his arms around Megatron's neck and kissed him deeply, spark trilling in it's chamber at their close proximity.

He felt physical unwell with _want_ , his tanks rolling and his spark hot. Of all the mechs he had been with, he had never felt so desperate for simple closeness, just the feel of Megatron's armour under his hands, the smell of his frame and rush his vents, and thrum of his big engine, the pulse of his steady fuel pump.

He dragged his hands down from Megatron's neck to touch his chest, fingers playing with the hidden seams to his spark chamber. Megatron's kisses grew shallow as he caught Starscream's wrists, drawing curious hands away.

Starscream whined, "But-!"

"Not here," Megatron soothed, taking his hand and drawing him away from the bulkhead. "Come."

Megatron didn't know his way around the ship any better than Starscream himself did, but following the general layout of any warship they managed to find the ship's quarters. No one was onboard yet, all busy with boarding preparations and pre-flight checks, so they were free to choose whichever room took their fancy.

Assumedly, they would work out proper living arrangements for the trip back to Cybertron once everyone was boarded and they were away from this planet, so the room Starscream hot-wired the door-lock of to gain access to likely already belonged to some hapless Autobot. But Starscream had already waited weeks, he wasn't going to suffer any longer.

"Just an interface." Megatron breathed into his mouth when they stumbled over the threshold and found the berth, collapsing on top of Starscream, legs threading together. His hand lingered over Starscream's spark, "No more."

"I'm fine." Starscream protested, laying his hand atop Megatron's. "You old fuss-pot-"

Megatron's engines revved and Starscream gasped at the vibrations that carried through his chest and his tanks and his groin. " _Oh~_ "

"I imagine it'll take some time before anyone realises we've gone." Megatron rose onto his knees between Starscream's thighs. "Open your panel."

Starscream snapped it back before Megatron had even finished saying the word 'open'. He was already wet, and might have been embarrassed by it had Megatron's engines not roared again at the sight of him. Hands dropped to his hips and shoved him up the berth, making room for Megatron to lay between his thighs, chin level with his pulsing valve.

He lifted his knees, spreading his pedes apart to give Megatron's broad shoulders more room, and reached down to touch himself, rolling his fingers through his folds and over his node, moving his digits in a teasing circle. Megatron's hot mouth kissed his inner thigh, then took Starscream's damp fingers, kissing them one at a time, before licking firmly over his entrance. Starscream's breath caught at the warm drag of his tongue, his optics fluttering.

Megatron gripped his thighs and pushed them open further, preventing him from closing them. He lapped at Starscream, tongue pushing between the folds and licking him out. Every couple licks he paused to suck lightly on his node, making Starscream's hips jump up and his thighs shudder.

He felt pleasure build and recede, build and recede, and it drove him insane. His head rolling side to side on the berth. "Megatron." He whispered.

Thumbs caught either side of his softened outer-mesh folds and pulled them apart, opening his valve. Megatron buried his face against him and sunk his tongue as deep as he could into him, thrusting it like he was fragging him, his nose brushing Starscream's anterior node with every forward movement.

Pleasure coiled and tightened his gears, and just as he was about to reach the point of no return, Megatron lifted his head, leaving him on the cusp and desperate for it. He sobbed.

"Shh," Megatron hushed him, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and crawling back over him, suspending his huge frame above Starscream. "You'll thank me later."

"Let me overload." Starscream whined, lifting his hips and trying to rub himself against Megatron's thigh.

Megatron slipped a hand between them and cupped Starscream's array, massaging him roughly. "Hmm," he quirked a brow, all smug and superior now. "You do seem ready for it."

"Just frag me." Starscream clutched his shoulders and lifted his legs towards his chest, trying to make the space between his thighs as inviting as possible. "Prove your worth for once, you bag of-!"

Megatron slipped his middle fingers into him and kissed Starscream when he threw his head back with a happy little sigh.

"Mmmph," Starscream moaned, when those fingers drew back and pressed in deeper, moving back and forth to tease internal sensors. He was so busy enjoying the slow but sure ministrations of Megatron's fingers that he didn't recognise the warm weight against his thigh for what it was until he felt it leave hot thick trails of fluid across his armour.

He flicked his optics online and glimpsed the gorgeous crimson, black, and grey spike hanging between their frames. He reached for it, ignoring Megatron's surprised hiss when he gripped it and gave it a brief squeeze. It was stiff and hot and smooth, and his mouth watered into the kiss at the thought of swallowing it down, of choking on it, of him riding it and it pressing into him, of the _limp_ it would give him.

Megatron brushed his hands away from his spike and nudged it between his thighs, rocking it through his damp valve mesh, spreading lubricant. Starscream lifted his head and nuzzled under Megatron's chin, kissing softly at throat cables, smiling when he heard the larger mech's breath hitch.

"We have to be careful."

"No we don't."

"Yes we do." Megatron peered down at him and glared, even as he rubbed his hot spike against Starscream's wet little valve. "Careful and slow."

"Don't be boring." Starscream whined, rolling a finger over the button on Megatron's abdomen.

Megatron kissed the edge of his jaw, nose bumping his audial, "I'll show you boring."

He gripped the base of his spike and Starscream sucked in a long breath, turning his head towards Megatron's to share a deep languid kiss as the round tip of his spike began to work it's way into his valve. Megatron wasn't as big as Astrotrain or Blitzwing, but he had a presence, and it made it hard for Starscream to get out of his own head enough to relax and unclench and enjoy it. He twitched, winced-

"Relax." Megatron mumbled into their kiss, just letting his spike dip in and out, in and out, slipping an inch or so deeper every time. It was maddening.

"I _am_ relaxed." Starscream hissed, clenching down and stifling a gasp at the steady rock of Megatron's hips.

Hands smoothed over the flat of his wings, and large digits pinched the tip. Starscream moaned like a tramp and his callipers released all at once. Megatron sank home.

His breath caught at the sudden fullness of Megatron inside him. _Megatron_ inside _him_.

He struggled to stifle an hysterical laugh at that realisation, but Megatron was already moving and it warped into loud, open mouthed moans. Megatron held his wings and kissed his front as he fragged him, a slow even pace that built and built and then slowed and slowed.

"What- what the Pit have you got against me overloading?" Starscream demanded, frame on fire and desperate for release.

"You're impatient." Megatron quipped, keeping his gaze as he swayed over him.

"Maybe you just d-don't know what you're doing?"

Megatron's gaze brightened, and a devious looking smirk crossed his face. Starscream's spark skipped a beat. "Wait, I didn't mean-"

He lost the ability to finish his sentence. Megatron started a fast pumping rhythm, his hips tapping Starscream's aft to make a _clunk clunk clunk_. Starscream threw an arm out to grab hold of something, anything, griping a handful off the sheets as Megatron didn't stop until the pressure built to blowing point and he was howling through the overload he was finally allowed, spark thumping in time to his pounding head.

Megatron eased off for all of five seconds, kissing Starscream's neck as he breathed and suffered through residual twinges of pleasure, before picking up the pace again.

"Sorry, I'm _sorry_!" He gasped, laughing, oversensitive from his overload as Megatron started driving into him to continue making his point. "Oh Primus, _yes_ -"

Megatron slammed into him and held deep, and Starscream froze, looking into the older mech's frowning face until it collapsed with relief, the spike inside him pulsing. Starscream moaned wordlessly, craning his neck to press his forehead to Megatron's, clenching his valve in anticipation as he felt Megatron finish inside him.

Megatron nuzzled him back, hips jumping as the last vestiges of pleasure left him, limbs loosening and frame relaxing. Starscream kissed his nose and wrapped his arms around him, hugging him close. Spark too full and hungry to stay behind his chest plates, he opened them.

Megatron became stiff in his arms.

Starscream opened his optics. Megatron was staring down at his spark, gaze longing and conflicted.

"...Please." Starscream asked quietly. "Why should we have to wait?"

"This is foolish. I could hurt you." Megatron murmured, but his gaze was fixated on his spark.

"Yeah right." Starscream snorted.

Megatron's optics narrowed and he dipped down for a fierce kiss, one designed to put Starscream in his place and remind him who was in charge here. Starscream laid still and took the rough bruising kiss without protest, careful not to arch up into it, waiting to see if Megatron's spark chamber would open in likeness.

A crack of light appeared between Megatron's insignia. Before Starscream knew it they had folded back and he was looking into large spark, dimmer than some, but no less powerful. He felt drawn to it. It was hard not to rise towards it.

Megatron broke the kiss long enough to give a little nod of compliance and began to sink down.

Their sparks came together with a warm surge of energy, and after what had happened with the humans Starscream had expected more pain than usual. He braced for it, but there was nothing -no sharp needle-like stabbing, no burning, no tearing- just him and Megatron in perfect harmony with one another, sparks singing as they feed energy back and forth between one another.

Starscream's breath caught as he felt that energy began to build itself into a whole new life signature. He nuzzled under Megatron's chin, mouth falling open at the overwhelming euphoria of it.

He gasped when Megatron began to move inside him again, pace languid this time. They rocked in time to the pulse of their sparks, until Starscream's overload threw Megatron into one two, and with one last lingering kiss, Megatron rose on shaking arms, and their sparks parted.

They looked down.

And there it was. Their new spark, a speck of blue light contrasting against Starscream's pink. It buzzed about his chamber energetically, like it was happy to be there.

Megatron dropped to the side with a tired huff, optics shuttering with exhaustion. Starscream sat up, unable to take his optics off their new spark.

"See." He slapped Megatron's thigh lightly. "I said you would hurt me."

Just to be contrary, Megatron reached up and pinched a wing edge. Hard.

 

* * *

 

"Idiot." Ratchet muttered, and Starscream couldn't tell which of them was being addressed, him or Megatron, as he sat on the examination table in the repair bay on the _Ark_.

They had long since taken off and left Earth behind, but it had only been half an hour since the search party of seekers that had been sent out by Thundercracker had managed to find them hidden away in _Ironhide's_ quarters of all places, and prised them apart.

Starscream kept his hands stubbornly locked over his chestplate, protective over it in a way he'd never thought himself capable of.

"Alright." Ratchet appeared next to him with a static net designed to fish the new-spark out of his spark chamber to transfer it to the waiting containment chamber behind him. "Open up."

"No." Starscream lifted his head high, nose in the air. "I'm keeping it."

Ratchet looked exhausted. " _Obviously_ you're keeping it, but it needs to go in the-"

"No, I'm keeping it inside me." Starscream glared. "This is my one. My sparkling."

Megatron cleared his vocaliser.

"And his two, I suppose." Starscream grumbled. "But mostly mine. I'm going to gestate it myself."

Ratchet's already grumpy face hardened. "You've barely recovered from your last ordeal and now you want to put yourself through another one?! Carrying to term isn't a walk in the crystal park, you little idiot. Now is _not_ the time to start taxing your systems!"

Starscream folded his arms and glared, resolute in his decision. He wasn't letting them build his sparkling out of haphazard spare parts. He was making it himself. 

Ratchet decided he was a lost cause, and turned on Megatron. "You! You did this! Talk some sense into him!"

Megatron looked rather helpless.

"There's no rush, medic. It takes two months to get to Cybertron." Starscream pointed out. "I've got to keep myself occupied _somehow_." He patted his chest fondly. "Besides, my spark seems to enjoy the company."

He felt his sparkling buzz up against his, and resisted a shudder at the still foreign sensation. It was an active little pest, that much was obvious.

"Fine." Ratchet threw his arms up, dropping his tools in defeat. "Suit yourself. Do it the old fashioned way! But don't come crying to _me_ when your carrying protocols come online and your systems start malfunctioning every five minutes!"

"Of course I'll come crying to you." Starscream yelled after him when he stomped out of the room. "You're the _fragging medic_!" 


End file.
